In 2024, Wintec (Waikato Institute of Technology, part of Te Pūkenga) quietly notified its staff and students of its intention to disestablish a large part of its School of Media Arts, encompassing journalism, music, theatre, design, and others in 2025, citing financial difficulties. Dozens of academic staff will be laid off in the next couple of years as all of these programmes wind down, and lead to a brain drain of hundreds of potential students from the region.

Despite framing it as a "consultation period", it appears they have no interest in listening to alternative plans to achieving financial viability, and already rescinded all of the 2025 intakes' acceptance, leaving them without anywhere to go. Read Martha's story in this Waikato Times article here.

Conveniently for Wintec, the "consultation" means that the staff can't speak out about the debacle out of fear of breaching their non-disclosure, so it's up us – the arts community, alumni, current students, and members of the public that all benefit from a Waikato flourishing with performing arts and quality journalism – to speak on their behalf.

How can you help?

• Sign the petition! If they're genuine about being open to feedback, then this is our opportunity to make the public opinion known, loud and clear.
• Spread the word to your friends and whanau.
• Share your story with us - reach out on our Facebook page.
• Message Wintec directly; Erica Stanford, the Minister of Education; or Calibre Partners, business consulting firm in charge of Wintec's secession from Te Pūkenga.

Thank you for your time! Every bit of support is a powerful message we can send to the people who are making these decisions that impact our entire region.