The findings outlined in a three-page briefing by the Tertiary Education Commission show Auckland and Otago universities’ proposal to expand their rural health offering was assessed as having the "highest benefits" compared to establishing a brand-new medical school in Hamilton.
However, the TEC found Otago and Auckland’s proposal to be "significantly less developed" than Waikato’s proposal and "therefore we have less certainty on the associated timelines and costs".
In response to questions from the Otago Daily Times, the University of Otago’s pro-vice-chancellor health sciences, Associate Prof Megan Gibbons, said Otago and Auckland universities were not permitted to have the same direct level of involvement into the business case development as Waikato University.
"As a result, the process gave us very limited opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the development of alternative options."
Last month, the government announced it was pushing ahead with the Waikato medical school, with the first intake of 120 students in 2028.
It approved $82.85 million in government funding towards the project, with the university chipping in more than $150m.
In the July briefing, the TEC said Auckland and Otago had existing expertise in medical education and "therefore their alternative rural medical school proposal is likely to produce good outcomes", but it again criticised the universities for not providing enough information.
"Auckland and Otago’s commitment to this alternative model is unclear.
"They proposed a rural medical school model when a third medical school was considered in 2017, but have not progressed it in the intervening period."
Assoc Prof Gibbons said the structure of the business case process provided limited avenues for input from Otago or Auckland.
"The options considered in the business case as alternatives to the Waikato one were based essentially on ‘straw man’ proposals, in one case which was several years old."
The Waikato medical school programme will be based on the Doctor of Medicine course from the University of Wollongong adapted to New Zealand’s medical environment
It will feature one year of intense campus-based learning and three years of placements, with a focus on training rural GPs.
The TEC briefing acknowledged "initial upfront expenditure" would be greater for Waikato, as Auckland and Otago already had the infrastructure in place.
But it considered the costs associated with an additional year of study and higher assumed medical salaries — with a larger proportion of students going into specialty areas — meant training doctors at Auckland and Otago universities would cost more overall than the Waikato model of a rural-focused service.
The briefing was one of several released by the TEC in a document dump yesterday.
Included among the briefings was the acknowledgement that in "any given year" there was a "very real risk that Waikato would need to take an aggressive response which could require additional Crown support to protect its liquidity".
Green Party MP Francisco Hernandez said the TEC briefings suggested the government was going to plough ahead with the Waikato medical school proposal regardless.
"The Waikato Medical School was a risky option that would potentially require additional taxpayer bailouts.
"But still the government stacked the deck in favour of that outcome."
Assoc Prof Gibbons agreed the process was not an independent assessment of the options.
"As per the relevant cabinet paper it explicitly involved Health NZ and Waikato working together, whereas Otago and Auckland were afforded limited involvement."
