Jobs to go as Ara partnership with Chinese university fails

Monday, 30 March 2026

An Ara partnership with a Chinse university once hailed as “mutually beneficial” has ended, with at least eight jobs proposed to be disestablished.

A significant partnership between Ara and a Chinese university promising “a long and mutually beneficial relationship” has ended abruptly, with at least eight jobs now on the chopping block.

The Press has seen a letter sent by Ara to affected staff, which said a partnership with Shenyang Jianzhu University (SJZU), in Liaoning province, north east China, had been terminated and, as a result, appointed academic roles were no longer needed.

Under the partnership, which began in 2023, Ara academics taught Chinese students IT and construction students in Shenyang for three years, with an option to complete a fourth and final year of study at Ara.

Students who completed their final year in New Zealand would have been awarded a dual New Zealand and Chinese degree.

Ara graduates get some snaps before the 2026 graduation ceremony.

However, the partnership ran into trouble last year over a proposed change to deliver the programme only in Shenyang, “where Ara’s degree would be fully delivered and awarded in China”, as such a move required NZQA approval.

“Despite numerous requests to SJZU to provide assurances required for offshore delivery of our degrees, Ara was prevented from progressing an application for approval from NZQA,” the letter said.

In October, Ara notified SJZU it would discontinue the joint programmes, but “provided detailed, student-centred options for an orderly transition and compliant pathways for awarding qualifications”.

SJZU again asked to progress the changes to a four-year delivery in Shenyang, but “Ara confirmed this was not feasible until the outstanding quality issues were resolved”.

In December, Ara became aware SJZU had already advised students that Ara would no longer deliver courses.

SJZU removed Ara courses from its 2026 timetable and transferred students to one of its own programmes, “without providing any formal notification or explanation to Ara”, the letter said.

“Ara was surprised by this sudden decision and is disappointed with the impact this has on our organisation and on our programme delivery in China.”

Ara Institute of Canterbury executive director Darren Mitchell had hoped the partnership with Shenyang Jianzhu University would be “long and mutually beneficial”.

Ara chief executive Darren Mitchell said Ara declined to comment, citing commercial sensitivity.

“Out of respect for kaimahi involved in an ongoing formal change process, Ara will not be commenting publicly at this time.”

Staff have been given until April 16 to provide feedback.

Ara announced the partnership and joint institution in a press release in June 2023, with Mitchell hailing it as the “starting point for a long and mutually beneficial relationship” and one of just a few joint programmes to be approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education.

He said Ara academics would teach block courses in China at Shenyang Jianzhu University “with the support of in-house Chinese speaking tutors”.

Up to 250 students would enrolled in the programme annually, with the first intake due to begin their studies in September 2023, Mitchell said at the time.

A post on the SJZU website from June 2023 introducing the joint programme said student fees were 50,000 yuan ($12,000) per academic year.

The Press was told that a SJZU programme manager was “still in the process of communicating with Ara”, but the institution declined to comment.

The partnership was entered into when Ara was a division of Te Pūkenga, which was disestablished last year.

The Tertiary Education Union is critical of the Government’s reductions in funding for tertiary education.

Ara became a standalone institute from January 1 and, like many other tertiary providers, was chasing more international student enrolments as part of a financial viability strategy.

Tertiary Education Union (TEU) Māori national president Garrick Cooper said the union was concerned for affected staff.

“We do not fundamentally oppose international collaborations, and we understand why Ara will have sought such a partnership – they’re trying to fill funding gaps and many institutions have relied on such partnerships to do so.”

However, he said clear policy direction about requirements for such partnerships from the Government were needed to ensure jobs and local tertiary education were not endangered in the process.

“We’re in an environment where we have record unemployment and many students wanting to study domestically, yet we have a government that keeps rolling out austerity measures.”

Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) guidance to the sector on funding allocations for 2027, published on March 16, warned of a “challenging fiscal environment”.

“We expect demand to remain strong and available funding to be unlikely to match it. Trade-offs will be required and most providers will see reduced investment.”

Labour’s tertiary education spokesperson Shanan Halbert said the end of the Ara and SJZU partnership was another blow to Canterbury following last week’s announcement of job cuts at Lincoln University.