Te Kāhui Auaha

PHOTO: Te Kāhui Auaha

Wellington polytechs Whitireia and WelTec are considering shutting down their central city campus, Te Kāhui Auaha, amid financial struggles. This comes as part of Te Pūkenga divisions’ review of programs and properties to remain financially viable, following the National-ACT-NZ First coalition’s decision to begin disestablishing Te Pūkenga in December 2024.

Te Kāhui Auaha, a creative campus located at the corner of Cuba Street and Dixon Street, opened in 2018 with impressive facilities including two theatres, a 55-seater cinema, an exhibition gallery, and a performance studio. Despite initially attracting close to 600 students in 2018, provisional numbers have now dropped to just 192.

Mark Oldershaw, the executive director of Whitireia and WelTec, stated that the pandemic significantly contributed to the decline in enrollments. “The campus has been underutilized partially due to the negative impact Covid-19 had on both domestic and international enrollments,” he said. Oldershaw emphasized that no final decisions had been made about the future of the campus or the programs currently offered there.

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Staff will be consulted during this process, with the polytechs committed to supporting both employees and students. “Whitireia and WelTec play an important role in meeting the vocational education and training needs of the Wellington region. We therefore need to ensure we remain financially viable to meet the longer-term needs of our learners, staff, and communities,” Oldershaw added.

Te Pūkenga

Photo: supplied

This isn’t the first financial challenge faced by Whitireia and WelTec. In 2019, the institutes proposed cutting around 70 teaching jobs due to falling student enrollments over the previous five years. The institutes had lost about 1500 full-time equivalent domestic students between 2019 and 2012.

The Tertiary Education Union expressed concern that the proposal to shut down Wellington’s only polytech campus signals potential closures of other campuses. National Secretary Sandra Grey criticized the government’s funding model, stating that it wasn’t supporting campus survival. “Across Te Pūkenga, we have around 2500 members facing uncertain times. It’s not just Wellington that’s affected. This government has mandated that every campus reviews its numbers and courses. Some communities are going to miss out big time,” she warned.

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The union has received warnings from Te Pūkenga about potential job cuts and is urging members to fight against them. “We’re going to fight for every job. These are people’s livelihoods, how they support their families. More than that, these people are teaching essential vocational qualifications,” Grey said.

As the decision date remains uncertain, the future of Te Kāhui Auaha and its impact on Wellington’s educational landscape hangs in the balance.

SOURCE: RNZ

 

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