Education Minister Chris Hipkins Proposes Commissioner for Unitec in Trouble

The government plans to appoint a commissioner at the Unitec Institute of Technology, in financial difficulty.

Unitec, the country 's largest industrial training provider, is missing $ 19 million this year and $ 27 million next year.

"I have advised the current Unitec Board of my plans to dissolve it and appoint a commissioner to address Unitec's financial difficulties," said the Minister today. from Education Chris Hipkins

. "Our message to students is that the government is committed to providing quality business training to Unitec and that they must be confident that their financial problems will be solved," Hipkins said. in a statement

The decision came after consultation on the proposal to dissolve the board and appoint a commissioner. Hipkins said that there had been 23 submissions on the proposal.

Acting General Manager Unitec Merran Davis previously reported that the institute had been affected by the drop in the number of students and expenditures to modernize Unitec buildings, the Teaching and learning. now largely completed and the organization had no debt as a result of the sale of surplus land earlier this year.