Trevor Goodwin has been dumped by minister Steven Joyce as chairman of the UCOL Council after just one four-year term.
Mr Goodwin chaired his final council meeting on Wednesday, and yesterday told the Chronicle he was disappointed with the decision by Mr Joyce, the Minister of Tertiary Education.
"The majority of other chairs around the country have had their terms renewed but I've been given no reason why I haven't been reappointed," he said.
Mr Goodwin's deputy, Malcolm Inglis, has been named as his replacement.
Mr Goodwin said that he felt proud of what had been achieved at the polytechnic during his four-year term.
"Many new initiatives have been introduced that have lifted UCOL's educational performance, and are acknowledged across the tertiary sector as innovative and successful. "UCOL is very focused on supporting high-performing teaching teams and changes that lead to improved student success, particularly for Maori students."
He said proof of those improvements was shown in the rise in course completion rates, an educational performance measure used by the Tertiary Education Commission. UCOL had lifted its performance indicators by 17 per cent in the past four years, the third-highest rate of improvement among New Zealand polytechnics.
Despite those results, he is one of four chairs not to be reappointed out of the nine polytechnics.
Mr Joyce told the Chronicle yesterday that he considered it the right time to "refresh the leadership of the council" and that UCOL would benefit from a different perspective at the chair level.
Mr Joyce said he expected Mr Inglis, who was also the deputy chairman of the Western Institute of Technology in New Plymouth, would foster collaboration and co-operation between the two institutions.
Mr Goodwin said a highlight of his time at UCOL had been improving the relationship with the Wanganui community, and working with Wanganui District Council through the joint taskforce "which is now making real progress".
The taskforce was established in the wake of community concern about the future of the tertiary institution in Wanganui when UCOL announced cutbacks in staff and in some key courses late in 2012.
Mr Goodwin said there were also the benefits shown with working collaboratively with the Awa City Clubhouse where eight adult students graduated with UCOL certificates in graphic design last week.
The most gratifying part of his role was leading the graduation ceremonies.
"It makes no difference what the qualification was - it is simply the fact that that the individual had applied themselves to such a degree that they were able to achieve their qualification."
Whanganui MP Chester Borrows said Mr Goodwin had made a significant contribution not only to UCOL but beyond it as well when he was head of Business New Zealand.
"I've never heard a negative comment made about his leadership of the council," Mr Borrows said.
"I've appreciated working with him and whenever there was any problem raised he always worked actively to find a solution."
Wanganui Mayor Annette Main said Mr Goodwin had made a valuable contribution to UCOL and in particular the commitment to work with the district council to ensure the role of UCOL continued in Wanganui.
"Together our two organisations were on a positive path and I thank Trevor for the part he has played in this," Ms Main said.