Young Māori in Bay of Plenty could get better access to tertiary education with the merger of the Tauranga-based Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and Waiariki Institute of Technology in Rotorua.
The deputy chair for both institutions, Neil Barns, said the proposal was not primarily about cutting costs but about lifting educational achievement, especially for Maori residents.
"We've got two medium-sized institutions that are performing well, but struggling to meet the needs of a big region with dispersed local communities.
"We've got a lot of social deprivation and under-achievement and lower rates of educational participation compared for the rest of the country. This is about doing better for the region."
He said the new institution would boost participation through online courses and more satellite campuses in small centres, like Kawerau, Murupara and Opotiki.
While young people were highly computer literate, they still needed face-to-face tutoring.
"While you can't build campuses everywhere - that's not realistic - what we can do is start to put more specialist education tutors out among the community to work with people."
Dr Barns said the boards were working closely with iwi in developing the plan.
"Our model in the past has been very traditional consultation - we design the proposition and then look for comment - but in this case, right from the start, we want iwi as partners.
"Education can't solve all the issues by itself, young people need social supports, and this applies to iwi and industry too."
Dr Barns said, subject to sign-off by Cabinet, the new institution could start providing courses in January.
