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Speaker 1: We're doing a massive u turn on the polytechs. They

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Speaker 1: were all merged into the single outfit tepouking A under

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Speaker 1: the last government and then are being unwhelmed again and

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Speaker 1: ten of them are going to go back to so

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Speaker 1: called regional governance now. Olivia Hall is the executive director

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Speaker 1: of Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology and with us.

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Speaker 2: Morning, Olivia, good morning. You must welcome this our Yes, Look,

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Speaker 2: our regents had faced some hard times with the rain,

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Speaker 2: so it was great to have some good news this week.

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Speaker 1: Aren't we going to run into, potentially though, the same

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Speaker 1: troubles that we had beforehand, which is, you know, the

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Speaker 1: financial troubles that the polytechs were having.

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Speaker 2: Look, that's the challenge facing us at MIT. We've been

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Speaker 2: able to get We've had a long history of being

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Speaker 2: quite successful financially, so we have some of the knowledge

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Speaker 2: and how to get back to running quite efficiently maybe

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Speaker 2: the needs of our community, and been able to be

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Speaker 2: successful financially through that.

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Speaker 1: I was under the impression, Olivia, correct me if I'm wrong,

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Speaker 1: but I was under the impression you guys were running

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Speaker 1: about seven deficits out of the last eight years.

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Speaker 2: We were We were part of the responding to the

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Speaker 2: changes post COVID has been part of the issues. Look,

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Speaker 2: we were really invested in the move to te Pukinger

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Speaker 2: and and wholeheartedly put ourselves forward for the changes there.

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Speaker 2: But as soon as the announcement was made around the

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Speaker 2: potential to be standalone or federated, our community and our

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Speaker 2: industries were really clear on where they expected an MIT

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Speaker 2: to be, which was to be standalone. So we've focused

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Speaker 2: very strongly on that and worked really hard to be

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Speaker 2: in the position so that we.

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Speaker 1: Are Olivia, how are you guys going to avoid not

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Speaker 1: running more deficits? Then what have you changed?

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Speaker 2: So we are lucky enough our programs that we we

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Speaker 2: run quite a tight stopping and starting of programs and

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Speaker 2: been very lean on all of our support functions with

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Speaker 2: quite a small polytech, so any excess we'll hit our

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Speaker 2: bottom line. So we're pleased to say that we will

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Speaker 2: have a surplus this year for the first time in

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Speaker 2: quite a long time. As you've touched on, but it

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Speaker 2: is around being efficient, being a very lean structure, and

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Speaker 2: focusing very strongly on our learners and the teachers that

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Speaker 2: teach to them.

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Speaker 1: Good luck with that, Olivia. Thanks for your time Olivia Hall,

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Speaker 1: executive director of Nelson Marlboro Institute of Technology. For more

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Speaker 1: from the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks

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