Jobs, courses and a campus are on the chopping block as the first tranche of cuts reaches Aotearoa’s polytechs and training institutes.

At least 154 roles, one campus and multiple courses across 10 institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITPs) have been cut as the government prepares to disestablish the nation’s largest vocational education provider Te Pūkenga, documents released under the Official Information Act (OIA) reveal.

Three of Aotearoa’s biggest ITPs (Wintec, Whitireia and WelTec and Toi Ohomai) have already faced significant cuts in the lead-up to Te Pūkenga’s disestablishment, to be completed by the end of 2026, as many institutions have implemented early restructures in order to get ahead of Te Pūkenga’s end, and to meet the government’s “right sizing” – ie downsizing – targets for ITPs. Te Pūkenga was created in April 2020 by the merging of New Zealand’s 16 institutes of technology and polytechnics.

In a first tranche of cuts between November 27, 2023 and December 19, 2024, the Waikato Institute of Technology, or Wintec, was the hardest hit with 46 full-time equivalent roles (FTEs) cut, its Hamilton Gardens campus set to close and 12 courses scrapped. Wintec had frozen arts course enrolments late last year while the Te Pūkenga cuts loomed, but with consultations with staff now closed,  none of its arts programmes have been affected “due to feedback received”, the documents note.

At Whitireia and WelTec in the Wellington region, nearly 30 FTEs will be reduced and the institution has also scrapped its NZ Diploma in Māori and Pacific Performing Arts programme. Campuses in Petone and Porirua, as well as its performing arts school Te Auaha, will see changes to staffing and location, as well as the loss of childcare facilities, which have already closed.

Bay of Plenty-based Toi Ohomai, which serves 14,000 students, will see 21 FTEs reduced and 16 programmes discontinued across its seven campuses, with programmes on the chopping block ranging from forestry and youth work to health and hairdressing. 

Smaller vocational education provider Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki (WITT) has seen three programmes closed, and two paused, as well as the removal of one leased campus, yet to be decided. The Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, Universal College of Learning and the Eastern Institute of Technology have seen fewer than four roles affected, with the latter also losing its apiculture programme and commercial road transport courses.

Roles affected across the ITPs range from managers to teachers, as well as a Māori content advisory manager and Tiriti partnerships director. According to the documents, 14 lecturers, 11 tutors, eight National Ako Network directors, seven heads of domain and 10 academic staff members are affected.

Green MP and tertiary education spokesperson Francisco Hernandez, who made the OIA request that led to the documents being released, said the government’s “disorganised, haphazard approach to vocational reform has left learners and their communities in the lurch”.

“People in Aotearoa deserve opportunities to develop their skills,” he said. “High-quality, publicly provided skills and trades training is so important to empower people to support themselves, their whānau and their communities.”

Te Pūkenga noted that some changes in role numbers occurred in conjunction with vacancies, meaning staff were not directly impacted as the roles in question were not filled at that point. However, the Tertiary Education Union’s national secretary Sandra Grey told The Spinoff that this meant the duties of the unfilled roles would have to be picked up by the remaining staff. “There are more jobs vacant than this list would guess, and that means more work for the people who are left.

“It’s really pressured for the Te Pūkenga staff right now,” Grey said. “They just have no clue what direction the minister wants the sector to head, and that means people are leaving of their own accord. They just don’t want to be a part of it any more.”

She said the union was initially successful in demanding no jobs be cut as a result of Te Pūkenga’s disestablishment. However, after the government brought in private accounting companies to go through the books of the polytechnics last year, the ITPs were given a right-sizing order to ensure they could be independent and financially viable by the time Te Pūkenga goes.

That meant cutting courses and whole programmes that had fewer students enrolled than what was seen as financially viable, and removing duplications between courses and roles. “The type of savings required by this government are of such a great extent that you couldn’t just cut a few cups of coffee and break even,” Grey said. “At this time, Te Pūkenga itself is able to stabilise, [but] the individual divisions cannot. So, it does beg the question of why you would break Te Pūkenga when it’s now actually able to operate effectively.”

The ‘really complex’ mission to replace Te Pūkenga

Te Pūkenga’s closure was announced in November 2023, as part of the new government’s 100-day plan. By July, replacing the provider remained the only objective not ticked off on the government’s second quarterly action plan, with prime minister Christopher Luxon at the time saying finding a substitute for the provider “genuinely has been really complex”. 

In December 2024, tertiary education minister Penny Simmonds confirmed the government had begun the process of disestablishing Te Pūkenga and expected polytechnics to operate independently from 2026. That month, a paper – titled “A redesigned vocational education and training system – legislative framework” – considering the breakdown of Te Pūkenga and the creation of a new tertiary entity was read by the Cabinet Social Outcomes Committee.

From Simmonds, the paper proposed a legislative framework which would allow ITPs, currently considered business divisions of Te Pūkenga, to “stand alone, be part of a federation, merge with other tertiary education institutions, or be sold”. The framework would also allow for Te Pūkenga’s existing vocational provisions to be transferred to a university, and Simmonds wrote that she had also sought advice on a dual-sector entity.

A separate cabinet paper submitted by the minister was read in June 2024 cited “long term” issues with financial stability in the institutes of technology and polytechnics, which had reportedly worsened under Te Pūkenga since it was established in April 2020.

Grey said the expectation for a merger could leave smaller institutions as an “afterthought”, that the federation model suggested by the minister was “problematic” and would lead to further cuts and reliance on online teaching, which wouldn’t suit all students. “That’s like saying, ‘I’m putting eight failing businesses into my business’,” Grey said. “It just causes strain within the system, and I don’t think it will serve communities, employers or students very well at all.”