Tokoroa and Taupō Toi Ohomai polytechs face closure
Monday, 14 July 2025
Up to 166 jobs will be “disestablished”, and polytech campuses in Tokoroa and Taupō closed, if Government plans to “right size” Toi Ohomai sites go ahead unchanged.
The move would hit especially hard in the struggling South Waikato town of Tokoroa where its entire campus is likely to shut, with students being asked study elsewhere.
South Waikato mayor Gary Petley has slammed the impending closure of the Pūkenga Rau campus, opened just two years ago at a cost of $14 million, calling it “a short-sighted and lazy decision”.
Taupō MP Louise Upston has also expressed concerns and was seeking an explanation from officials.
The news comes as the Government announces that 10 polytechnics are going back to regional control - including Toi Ohomai.
A 128-page confidential document seen by Waikato Times on Monday states the polytech must reduce its operating deficit and achieve financial sustainability to re-establish itself as a standalone institution by 2026.
Toi Ohomai has campuses in Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupō, Tokoroa and Whakatāne, and is Te Pūkenga/New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology’s largest tertiary education provider in the South Waikato and Bay of Plenty.
Executive director Kieran Hewitson said in the document the campus closures were necessary to “address the current financial position of Toi Ohomai, the significant catalyst for change, and to enable our pathway into the future”.
The Tokoroa campus made an operational loss of $496,000 last year, and its Taupō campus a $250,000 loss.
Reasons for the closure proposal included declining enrolments, unsustainable operating costs, high lease and infrastructure costs, and a focus on its Rotorua and Tauranga sites.
At this stage it is unclear exactly how many jobs could be lost, as some staff could take up new roles elsewhere.
A final decision on the proposal is expected by September, for action by October this year.
If closed, Tokoroa learners will lose opportunities to study computing, construction trade, automotive engineering, and te reo Māori courses.
In Taupō, students would lose their construction trade and automotive engineering courses.
South Waikato mayor Gary Petley has vowed to seek ways for his council to fill the void.
“[It] was a huge blow to a community that already ranks among the five-most deprived in New Zealand, and has one of the highest ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’ (NEET) rates nationally.
“They are taking the easy way out, rather than finding other ways to achieve operational savings and to become sustainable, and it’s come at the detriment of the people of South Waikato.”
Petley said it’d be daunting for students to travel an hour or more to a campus in Rotorua, Tauranga or Hamilton, with limited public transport options. Plus, the local economy was still reeling from the recent loss of about 150 jobs at Kinleith Mill.
And with unemployment rates already almost double the national average, Petley said removing “the crucial service” would condemn “South Waikato people to another generation of poverty”.
Upston, whose electorate includes Tokoroa, said any proposal to close campuses was concerning and she expected to be updated by officials on Friday.
“I will be asking how learners in Tokoroa and Taupō will receive face to face learning opportunities.
“We have a lower than average tertiary education experience in our region, and their needs must be met,” she said.
Tertiary Education Union Rotorua branch co-leader Santana Ammunson said staff were in shock and “a bit of disbelief”.
Most in Tokoroa and Taupō were affected, with proposals to disestablish their jobs.
“I think the two roles left will be there to help deliver programmes elsewhere.
“They say all the time that the learners are always at the centre of their decision making, but in this case it's a fiscal policy that’s at the centre.”
She said the competition for the remaining jobs at Toi Ohomai will be fierce among those facing the axe.