UCOL has shared the final decisions for its change process, Getting UCOL Future Ready, with kaimahi today.
Jasmine Groves, Operations Lead, says the process was a key part of confronting the organisation's financial viability and long-term sustainability.
"It's crucial for the vocational education sector to have not only financially sustainable but also academically rigorous organisations that are founded on strong and enduring industry engagement and community connections.
"UCOL had a deficit of $7.2M that needed addressing, and this difficult piece of mahi was critical in positioning UCOL to be able to stand alone post Te Pūkenga.
"We have now seen the successful outcome of that in the Minister's announcement this week, in that UCOL will be able to stand alone with its own Board and CE from 1 January 2026, allowing us to return to being a community polytechnic, responding to our learners' and industry needs through local decision-making, for our communities.
"Our kaimahi were highly engaged in Getting UCOL Future Ready, with over 250 pieces of thoughtful, considered feedback received during the consultation. The thought and care put into those submissions also meant there were many changes between the proposals and the decisions. Moving forward, kaimahi can now be assured that UCOL has no further structural changes required and collectively, we can start working on a future UCOL that is able to reinvest in itself and its people," says Groves.
From here, the organisation will move into selection and recruitment, where UCOL will look to redeploy as many impacted kaimahi as possible into alternative or new roles created.
Across the organisation, 18 new roles have been created. 43 roles will potentially be made redundant, dependent on the outcomes of the upcoming selection and recruitment processes.
This figure (43) includes both disestablished roles and where there is a confirmed reduction in roles. 26 of these are academic and 17 are general.
Breaking those redundant and disestablished roles down by campus, there are 29 in Manawatū, 1 in Horowhenua, 1 in Whanganui and 1 in Wairarapa, and 11 non-campus aligned.
As selection and recruitment processes are completed, these numbers may continue to change.