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Disabled students at Manukau Institute of Technology are being assured its disability support office will remain open, after fears over the fallout from an institution-wide restructuring plan.
A draft proposal to shed about 90 staff from various roles at the campus in Otara, Manukau City, was announced to
staff last November.
Chief executive Dr Peter Brothers told the Herald staffing was eventually reduced by 55 from the start of this academic year, as the institution reduced costs after running a deficit for two years in a row.
It is understood one of the three full-time workers at the disability support centre was among the cuts.
Arthur Beazley - who was partially paralysed by a stroke in 2000 - said disabled students believed spending on part-time support staff would also be trimmed as part of the on-going budget work.
Mr Beazley, a computing student, made a submission to MIT opposing the initial proposed cuts.
"I have trouble with taking notes, so I need a notetaker. There are other students who are blind and deaf," he said.
"We are upset. We have a hard time competing with normal students as it is now."
A summary of submissions showed several asked for the disability service centre to remain at its current staffing level or be allocated more resources.
MIT external relations executive director Dr Stuart Middleton said no disabled student had been told their support would be withdrawn.
"We still have the same commitment to supporting students with disabilities that we've always had.
"But the activity - like all activities at most tertiary institutions - will have to operate under a more constrained budget."
Although some changes to disability support services may happen, firm details would not be known until next month.
One could involve a slowing of the turnaround time of notetakers' notes being delivered to students, he said.
Dr Middleton said polytechnics were dealing with a "fundamentally flawed" national funding model for the services.
The funding to support disabled students was set by a calculation using the number of fulltime-equivalent students, not the number of disabled students.
The method made it difficult for polytechnics, as research showed they had a higher proportion of disabled students than universities. "It's a very fraught area," said Dr Middleton.
Last year, Manukau Institute of Technology provided support for almost 200 disabled students from a total roll of about 6000 fulltime-equivalent students.
Dr Ruth Anderson of the Tertiary Education Commission said funding was calculated on a "demographic basis" through a set amount per equivalent full-time student.
