Aoraki Polytechnic staff and students from the tertiary
institution's five South Island campuses have been told they
will have to wait longer to discover the fate of their jobs
and courses.
Fifteen courses are under threat, possibly affecting up to 20
jobs, after the polytechnic launched a review of its
education priorities in September.
A decision on the proposed cuts to courses and jobs was
scheduled to be made yesterday, after a six-week consultation
period.
Attempts to contact Aoraki chief executive Kay Nelson since
Aoraki started its final deliberations two weeks ago have
been unsuccessful.
An emailed statement from Ms Nelson's personal assistant on
Thursday said Aoraki staff were informed on Tuesday a final
decision would not be made yesterday as had been scheduled.
Staff were told a team of Aoraki's senior managers "were
still working on the feedback".
Two of Aoraki's campuses were closed yesterday for Canterbury
Anniversary Day.
An emailed inquiry to Ms Nelson about when the decision was
likely to be made was not answered.
Ms Nelson has not replied to written questions about the
total numbers of submissions made by staff and students and
whether they supported or opposed Aoraki's proposed cuts.
Eight of 12 media programmes at Aoraki's Dunedin campus are
proposed to be cut under the polytechnic's education
priorities review.
This could threaten all the programmes being taught at the
Cumberland St facility, the Tertiary Education Union said.
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