Topical FAQs

We know that you're busy people and that sometimes you won't manage to catch our All staff hui sessions live. 

We'll add a recording with the date of each hui below so you can watch them at a time that suits you. 

15 July - All staff hui 

This session covered our initial reaction after Otago Polytechnic discovered it had been made both standalone from 1 January 2026 and part of a federated model. 

Access recording here >

7 Aug - All staff hui 

This session covered an update on our campaign to stand alone (rather than be part of the Federation). It also covered our financials, how we're tracking with domestic and international applications and enrolments, and our focus for the rest of the year. We also acknowledged Brayden Murray's resignation. 

Access recording here > 

21 Aug - All staff hui 

This session covered an update on the Federation / standalone situation, what our External Advisory Group will be responsible for and the fact that we're expecting our Regional ITP Viability (RIV) to be released by Te Pūkenga soon. We also gave an overview of what our Application Journey Project is focusing on, and acknowledged those staff working on calling our applicants. 

Access recording here >

4 Sept - All staff hui 

This session covered an update on our meeting with the Minister during which she gave us more clarity around the federated model. We also discussed the recently released RIV report, our new TKM structure, our change of waiata for Graduation, and the work that will be needed around our transition to being a stand alone organisation.  

Access recording here >

9 Oct - All staff hui 

This session covered information about our transition to be a standalone organisation once more, an update on our change processes, and a reminder about our hold on unapproved internal travel from 8 Oct - 31 Dec 2026. We also congratulated Chloe and Juliane for winning an Ako Award, gave an update on 2026 application and enrolment numbers, let you know how the application journey is progressing, and answered two FAQs - one around property divestment and another around our student healthcare proposal 

Access recording here >

23 Oct - All staff hui 

This session covered information about our transition to be a standalone organisation (timeframes; people transfer and offer letters; CE recruitment; Otago Polytechnic Council; key contact for transition work - jen.nicholson@op.ac.nz; using the OP brand only - update your email signatures). We also gave an update on 2026 applications, the Application Journey Project progress, 2025 Staff Awards and Academic Promotions, and that we may move to March ceremonies only for Graduation (to reduce cost and workload associated with September).  

Access recording here > 

We have decided to move the Kōwhai Centre out of its current location. 

Q: Why is this happening?

There are a couple of primary reasons for this:  

1. The current Kōwhai Centre site only has four available spaces which will not enable this programme to grow. Increasing the number of rooms will allow us to increase the cohort size for the Bachelor of Social Services.  
2. As part of our drive for good business practice and continual reflection on how we’re operating, we have been reviewing our space utilisation. Due to this, we’ve found that there is plenty of available space around the campus.   

We will therefore be moving the Kōwhai Centre into H Block, and we are working to finalise the location for English Language.   

Q: What are the details?  

The Kōwhai Centre will be moving to the sixth floor of H Block. This is a natural fit given that Social Services staff already work in this block and the existing rooms will require minimal change to convert them into counselling rooms.  

When the counselling rooms are not in use, they will be able to be used as breakout spaces for H Block staff. We’ll also be converting H612 into a new Adobe suite and developing a new counter space.

Q: When will this happen? 

In November, we will exit the Kōwhai Centre, and the new Kōwhai Centre will be operational from January 2026.  

The TEC have posted information on their website about our new External Advisory Group (EAG) members.

Our members are:

• John Gallaher (Chair)
• Rowena Davenport 
• Scott Mason.

The EAG are a temporary group, employed by TEC, to make establishment decisions to enable us to be stood up successfully from 1 January 2026. 

They will be responsible for things like determining the size of our future Council, selecting a Chief Executive, and ensuring all practical requirements for Day One are in place (for example, opening an Otago Polytechnic bank account).   

Mike Collins, CEO of Business South, is our Community Advisor. He will play a liaison role between the Otago community and Otago Polytechnic and is contracted by Te Pūkenga. He will work alongside us and the EAG as they progress their work programme.    

You can find out more about the intended role of EAGs here. 

Q: What did the Government say will happen to Otago Polytechnic?

In July, the Government announced that Otago Polytechnic will be standalone again from 1 January 2026.

At the same time, Otago Polytechnic has been placed in a federation model with UCOL and Open Polytechnic (as the federation anchor).

We have been trying to gain clarity around what the federated model would mean for us. 

Q: What’s the latest with the federation model situation? 

On Tuesday 2 September, we released a joint media statement with the Hon Penny Simmonds, Minister of Vocational Education. 

This media statement: 

• clarifies that the role of the federation is to provide support to those polytechnics who need it 
• confirms that, whilst Otago Polytechnic will still be in the federated model initially, the use of shared services is at our discretion and we will have the ability to move out of the federation, if we achieve our financial recovery, which we are on track to do 
• showcases the Minister's support for Otago Polytechnic to succeed 
• reinforces that it is essential that we focus on financial viability and achieving our budget targets. 

You can read the joint media statement here >

Q: There’s so much change happening, why do we have to do all this now? Couldn’t we delay it?

The Government has mandated that we have to make $10M in annual savings. We must achieve this in 2025, or we won’t be financially viable in 2026. If we’re not financially viable, it’s highly likely we’ll be in the Federation.  
 
We do not want to be in the Federation as we risk losing the autonomy of decision-making and the independence of our academic board/programme development. We strongly believe this will undermine our learner success rates, the quality of our teaching and our opportunity to innovate. We also feel it will dilute the “Otago Polytechnic experience”.   
 
The large-scale right sizing we are having to complete is a result of a lack of consistent reviews or corrective action for the past few years. Moving forwards, we will ensure we embed good business practice so such sweeping change will be much less likely. 

TKM are proposing to change our existing on campus Student Health service to an online, telehealth model provided by Pocket Lab from 2026. 

A number of other tertiary institutions across New Zealand already use this provider and rate the service highly in terms of access and experience. 

Why the proposed change?

The telehealth model will:

• ensure that our distance learners have access to high quality healthcare services (note: a third of our learners are distance learners who cannot currently access our Student Health service)
• provide all learners with timely, equitable and accessible health support, including same-day appointments
• provide a broader range of services than we currently are able to offer
• offer appointments with clinicians from diverse specialties and backgrounds, ensuring the service meets the growing and varied needs of our diversity of learners
• be financially sustainable, allowing more learners to succeed
• strengthen our ability to uphold our obligations to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021
• meet a range of TEC Learner Success outcomes.

What about other health services?

The vast majority of Pocket Lab telehealth appointments are resolved fully online, with fewer than 2% of these appointments converting to a further in-person referral.

If a learner does need to be referred for a physical check-up after their telehealth consult, they will go to the Urgent Doctors. We currently refer learners to this service when Student Health appointments are not available and we’re liaising with them about our proposed switch to the telehealth model.

Our counselling, accessibility and wellbeing support services will remain as they are currently – available online, over the phone or in person.

Nursing services will be contracted in for key campaign drives e.g. immunisation, sexual health.

Will this impact FTE?

Unfortunately, our current model is not financially sustainable. To ensure we are operating sustainably and providing a timely and accessible health service for all our learners, we are proposing to downsize by 4.77FTE.

I met with the Student Health team yesterday to explain the proposed changes and the process we will follow to seek feedback. I also met with our Students’ Association to explain our proposal to them as representatives of our wider learner community.

We will ensure that kaimahi are offered continual support during this process and I know you will continue to be kind to each other and respect the privacy of kaimahi who are directly impacted by the proposed changes.

This proposal may come as a surprise to many of you as it’s quite a significant change to our current service which has been in place for many years.

With the growing diversity within our learner population and a large percentage of distance learners, TKM and I strongly believe we need to enhance the positioning of our healthcare service to better provide for our learners moving forwards.

Thanks for your continued mahi and understanding as we position ourselves for a successful future.

Megan Pōtiki
Executive Director 

Portfolio 

• Overall leadership 
• Finance 

Executive Assistant 

• Lee-Ann Dahl

Chris Williamson 
Deputy Executive Director, Academic Delivery 

Portfolio 

• Academic Excellence 
• Central Otago Campus 
• College of Community Development and Personal Wellbeing 
• College of Health 
• Open Education Resource Centre 
• Te Ama Ako I Learning and Teaching 
• Te Kaihapai (student complaints)

Executive Assistant 

• Lee-Ann Dahl 

Mark Cartwright 
Deputy Executive Director, Industry Training and Innovation 

• College of Engineering, Construction and Living Sciences 
• Industry Training 
• International relationships 
• Otago Polytechnic Auckland International Campus (OPAIC)
• Te Maru Pumanawa I College of Creative Practice and Enterprise 

Executive Assistant 

• Britney Wright  

Max Sims 
Deputy Executive Director, Operations 

Portfolio 

• Academic Registry 
• Campus Services 
• Contact Centre 
• Customer Services 
• Digital/ISS 
• Functions and Catering 
• International operations 
• Marketing, Communications and Engagement 
• Polykids

Executive Assistant 

• Britney Wright   

Shaun Tahau 
Deputy Executive Director, Learner Experience and Partnerships 

Portfolio 

• Bicultural Competency 
• He Toki 
• Matauranga Māori 
• Otago Polytechnic Students' Association (OPSA)
• Pasifika
• Research and Postgraduate Studies 
• Student Health 
• Student Success 
• Sustainability 
• Te Pā Tauira (student accommodation)
• Te Punaka Ōwheo I Māori Learner Success

Executive Assistant 

• Britney Wright  

Jo Mika-Thomas 
Deputy Executive Director, People and Safety 

Portfolio 

• People and Culture 
• Health and Safety 
• Wellbeing

“Transition” refers to the work we need to do as an organisation to move us from being a business entity of Te Pūkenga, to our own standalone organisation from 1 January 2026.  

TEC are also producing regular updates and you can sign up here if you’d like to receive them. These are useful as they give a great summary of what’s happening across work-based learning divisions (WBL) and Industry Skills Boards (ISBs) as well as the ITPs.  

Standalone and federated  

We are among ten polytechnics transitioning to be a standalone organisation. This is an exciting time as we move closer towards being a locally led and regionally responsive institution once more. We are also part of the federated model but don’t have to access shared, federated services if we achieve our financial recovery (which we’re on track to do).  

Transition timeframe, CE appointment, and new Council  

The Education and Training Amendment Bill is continuing its legislative process. The successful third reading of the Bill happened in Parliament last week. The passing of this Bill is a catalyst for a range of dependent decisions and activities including:  

• Consultation on the Orders in Council (due around 24 November). These are required to be approved by Cabinet before each of the ten new polytechnics can be established. These cover details such as the number of members on each polytechnic Council.  
• Once the Orders in Council are approved, the new Councils/Boards can be stood up.  
• They will be able to formally appoint a Chief Executive (CE) for each polytechnic.  
• The issuing of letters to all staff in a Te Pūkenga business division (like us) that will become a new polytechnic.  

Recruitment is currently underway across all ten polytechnics for the new CE roles. Our recruitment process is being led by the Hardy Group.  

Our CE will report to the new Otago Polytechnic Council and members of Te Kāhui Manukua (TKM) will report to the CE.  

The role of our External Advisory Group (EAG) - John Gallaher, Rowena Davenport and Scott Mason – is to select (via a recruitment process) a Chief-Executive-Designate who will be appointed by the new Council to lead Otago Polytechnic and to negotiate the terms that will apply to our organisation from day one of us being a standalone organisation.  

People transfer and staff letters  

Otago Polytechnic is currently still a business division of Te Pūkenga. That means they are our employer and we are all Te Pūkenga kaimahi. However, once we become standalone, all kaimahi will need to transfer to their new employer - Otago Polytechnic. To do this, all kaimahi will need to sign an Otago Polytechnic transfer offer letter.  

The timing of this will depend on when Parliament decides “day one” will be. Day one refers to the first day of us operating as a standalone organisation. We initially thought this was going to be 1 January 2026, but there are some indications it could be earlier.  

We’ll send you a specific email about people transfer and kaimahi offer letters as soon as we can.  

Ākonga communications  

Legally, we need to advise current and prospective ākonga that we will be transitioning to a standalone organisation and that their applications and enrolments will transfer to Otago Polytechnic (rather than Otago Polytechnic trading as a business division of Te Pūkenga).  

This week, we’re adding a transition disclaimer to our website, application/offers, enrolment letters, and Terms and Conditions. Te Pa Tauira have also sent the information out with their offers.  

Back to blue – OP branding  

As we become standalone, we can fully return to using the OP branding that we’re all proud of. 

We’ve already been using the OP single brand for the last year across many of our external marketing channels (as opposed to the Te Pūkenga brand or the co-branding of Otago Polytechnic and Te Pūkenga). And, from day one, we’ll be able to remove any remaining Te Pūkenga branding (e.g. the OP website footer).

Email signatures

It’s a good chance to make sure that things like your email signature have been switched back to the OP brand (you can do that now, you don’t need to wait). Need some guidance? Check this page on Tūhono.  

Media consent forms  

Most of you will be familiar with the media consent forms that we gather when producing stories about students or taking their photo. Te Pūkenga have confirmed that all Te Pūkenga media consent forms are still valid after we become a standalone organisation which is great as it means we can continue to use the stories and photos gathered over the last few years. The Marketing team will be creating a new Otago Polytechnic media consent form for use from day one. We’ll circulate that later in the year.  

Who’s leading the transition work for OP?  

Jen Nicholson is our in-house Project Manager for this work.  
 
She’s currently pulling together a big spreadsheet of actions needed over the next few months. This covers areas like Legal and Compliance, Governance, and Finance. 

Jen will come to individuals and teams if she has questions or information about something you’ll need to action. If you have any questions about processes or documents or anything that you feel may need to change as we transition to become standalone, please get in touch with Jen. She can then ensure that all tasks/actions are centralised, and the work given to people in a coordinated way. Email jen.nicholson@op.ac.nz 

We’ll send a specific email out about this when we have more details.