ANALYSIS: New Zealand’s Tertiary Vocational Sector Broke and Leaderless

News Analysis All 16 of New Zealand’s polytechnics (vocational education providers) are running huge deficits and those in the North Island risk failing, figures leaked to Newshub have revealed. The worst are both in Wellington: Whitireia and WelTec, which are $28 million (US$17.4 million) in deficit. But many others are almost as broke: the Waikato Institute of Technology is $22.5 million over budget, The Open Polytechnic is facing a $22 million deficit, and Toi Ohomai (which covers Rotorua, Taupō, Tauranga, Tokoroa, and Whakatāne) has losses of nearly $21 million. The deficit across all 16 polytechnics is more than $185 million. The previous government’s solution was to merge all the institutes into Te Pūkenga, a single, nationwide tertiary education provider, which was underway when the country went to an election....