Wanganui District Council is taking a proactive approach to the decision by UCOL to drop hairdressing courses and temporarily halt intakes into fine arts and glass studies.
We should welcome the stance taken - yesterday's meeting held 13 days after the announcement of the cutbacks, which included removing the Wanganui
management structure.
It is a different response than was experienced over plans to change the provision of maternity care, and also the placement of Stewart Murray Wilson on parole on the outskirts of our city. In those cases, there were those who suggested the response was slow and initially too soft. Of course, we know the outcome of both those: maternity services were saved, at least in the interim, and Wilson remains a resident of sorts, albeit with severe restrictions on his freedom.
With UCOL the council has taken a positive approach and, rather than berating and criticising, has extended assistance seeking to engage with UCOL and the Minister of Tertiary Education Steven Joyce.
Far from holding the ineffectual meeting that was feared, the local body has shown it has teeth by suggesting it will try to seek out alternative providers. How realistic that is though is debatable.
