Media Release- Bailing Polytechnics won’t stop the sector sinking

National's Education spokesman Bill English, yesterday criticised Labour's $3 million suspensory loan deal to bail out Whanganui UCOL. Bill English claims that these types of rescue packages will do nothing to solve the financial problems that are becoming increasingly endemic in the polytechnic sector.

Such bail-outs are a consequence of tertiary sector under-funding. Otago Polytechnic student leaders condemned the last twenty years of sustained under-funding of the tertiary sector, at the hands of both Labour and National.

“Continued under-funding is the cause of the financial difficulties faced by many of the countries polytechnics and not bad management as Mr English suggests” says Natalie Absalom, Co-President of the Otago Polytechnic Students’ Association.

“The ambulance at the bottom of the cliff approach to the funding of our polytechnics is a poorly thought out policy, surely funding a fence at the top of the cliff would be far more cost effective and would go someway in ensuring quality education is delivered” Otago Polytechnic Students’ Association Co-President, Richard Mitchell states.

"The polytechnic sector is sick, perhaps the medicine Dr Cullen should be prescribing is an ounce of prevention rather a pound of cure" says Ms Absalom.