Minister welcomes changes to Bill

Tertiary Education Minister Anne Tolley has welcomed the changes to the Education (Polytechnics) Amendment Bill made through the Select Committee process.

"The Select Committee has proposed that each institution should determine the make up of four of the representatives on the new polytechnic councils, which are to be reduced to eight members," said Mrs Tolley.

As well as the four Ministerial appointees, councils were to have consisted of the Chief Executive, one student representative, one member nominated by the academic board and one member appointed by the council.

"With this change, each polytechnic will have the freedom to decide the composition of the four non-Ministerial appointed members, based on the needs of their communities and local iwi, and the issues they face.

"The Government is committed to strong, high performing polytechnics because they play a vital role in our educational and economic future.

"I am confident that these changes will help us achieve our goal, which is to have highly skilled people with governance experience putting their names forward to be part of the Council of their local polytechnic."

The Select Committee has also recommended that the appointment of new councils can take place between 1 March 2010 and 1 May 2010.

This will mean that new councils may be constituted earlier, to give them more time to prepare for the submission of an investment plan for 2011-2013.