EIT's council chair, Geraldine Travers says the polytechnic would have moved into the 'red zone' without the proposed merger. Photo / File.
EIT's council chair, Geraldine Travers says the polytechnic would have moved into the 'red zone' without the proposed merger. Photo / File.
EIT's council chairwoman has claimed it would have drifted into "the red" if a merger of the country's polytechnics did not go ahead.
Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced at the beginning of August that the country's 16 polytechnics and institutes of technology will be disestablished and merged into one nationalinstitute.
EIT, the Hawke's Bay region's institute, has consistently prided itself on its financial stability, and strong surplus figures.
But its council chairwoman Geraldine Travers has revealed that the future might not have been so bright.
Travers told Hawke's Bay Today that going into a deficit would have happened in "due course ... probably not this year".
"We haven't had an increase in funding in 10 years and even if you have a look at inflation over the last 10 years you can see what the difficulty is," she said.
Travers made reference to the ITPs that have had to be "bailed out" by the government to the tune of millions of dollars.
"The fact that we have not been in that situation testament to the skill of the management."
Tukituki National MP Lawrence Yule, who has been a vocal critic of the merger announcement, said EIT was "never likely to go broke".
He said a change in immigration policy and a "discouragement of international students" had impacted on EIT. But EIT had made a surplus every year, he said.
"I accept that surplus dropped last year but one of the reasons for that is it has been harder to get international students into both the Auckland and the Taradale campus."
Yule said while there "might be some headwinds in terms of financial viability", he has complete confidence that the Board and the CEO would manage their way through that.
"What's more, they have $28 million in cash and short-term investment reserves to buffer any slight downturn."
Regional leaders met with EIT on Friday to discuss how to deal with the merger. Photo / Paul Taylor
It comes as the mayors of Hastings, Wairoa and Central Hawke's Bay District Councils, the chair of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council, a representative from Napier City Council and the chief executive of Ngati Kahungunu Iwi met on Friday afternoon with the head of EIT, Chris Collins and Travers.
Along with Napier Labour MP, Stuart Nash, the region's leaders will put together a business case for why Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti would be the "ideal" location the national headquarters of the merged institutes.
However, the leaders said in a combined statement there were still a number of "concerns" that need addressing, including the effect a national polytech institute could have on the region, and the potential loss of control for the region.
