Enrolments in workplace learning – Te Pūkenga’s only profitable division – have plummeted, but those in its loss-making polytechnics have grown.
The institute had 60,515 apprentices and other on-job learners in early April, 16,000 fewer than the same time last year.
The 21 percent drop has struck the only part of the organisation to make surpluses.
The 60,515 learners equated to 8329 equivalent-full-time learners, the basis on which government funding is calculated, which was 2415 fewer than at the same time in 2023.
Balancing the fall in workplace learners, the number of full-time students in the organisation’s polytechnics jumped nearly six percent from 43,541 in early April last year to 45,989 this year.
The institute’s 2023 annual report is yet to be published, but last year a briefing paper for the incoming government said its polytechnics would collectively lose $185m, while the workplace learning division would make a surplus of $100m.
It was not clear how this year’s enrolment trends would affect its financial result.
Te Pūkenga told RNZ it was too early to predict its 2024 financial situation.
It said workplace learner numbers had dropped for reasons including the end of a fund that allowed learners to train without paying fees and immigration changes that meant foreign employees were no longer eligible for government funding for their training.