Education

October 2009 - Education (Polytechnics) Amendment Bill

In September we prepared a submission to the Education and Science Committee on the Education (Polytechnics) Amendment Bill based on NCW policy and responses provided by members. The main purpose of the Bill is to reduce the size of institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITPs) councils to seven members, plus up to one co-opted member, with the Minister for Tertiary Education appointing 50% of the members. Most ITP councils currently have about 12 to 20 members. We recommended that the size of the council be increased by at least two members, which still keeps it small and focused, but not at the expense of gender and ethnic balance and adequate community representation.