Southern Institute of Technology chief executive Penny Simmonds says she's "shell shocked" at a government proposal to merge Industry Training Providers throughout New Zealand into a single entity. This year, 5400 students were studying at SIT, and 1000 of them were international students. "All international students would be managed centrally, and do you think Wellington is going to send international students to Invercargill? "The proposal is light on detail and it doesn't address the core issue that not enough people are moving into vocational training." Invercargill mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt was also critical of the proposal, saying it was "punishing us for being a success".

Source: Stuff February 13, 2019 03:11 UTC