Chief executive Jonathan Walmisley said in a letter to the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC)'s land-based training review that Telford's "popularity" irritated some people within the TEC but he made no apologies for its success in recent years, which has seen both its enrolment numbers and bank balance rise.
The TEC review could effectively decide Telford's fate.
It wants to regionalise polytechnics and other tertiary institutions, but Telford is claiming it has a specialist place in the market because it offers land-based training unlike most others.
In his letter, Mr Walmisley said it was clear "there are some within TEC who want Telford to close".
This was, he believed, because Telford "sits outside" the regionalisation framework proposed by TEC and it was also delivering short-course programmes.
"It is clear that Telford's unwillingness to simply accept this and either close or restrict itself to on-campus full-year courses is also an irritant and the fact that our chair [Dave Yardley] has been in correspondence with the [Tertiary] Minister apparently irritates some within the TEC."
Despite the push from TEC, Mr Walmisley said the Telford council and staff remained committed to meeting the training needs of the rural sector.
While regionalising polytechnic funding was a political reality, Mr Walmisley said it did not necessarily result in the most effective use of resources.
TEC management were in an all-day meeting yesterday and could not be reached for comment.
A TEC working group, conducting the review, is due to meet with TEC next week to summarise submissions and to get direction from TEC on the way forward.
A consultation paper will then be prepared with submissions expected to be called in July.
TEC will meet in late September to make its final decisions and polytechnics like Telford will be told of the outcomes by early 2009.
Â
