Wellington, Dec 16 NZPA - Councils that run polytechnics will be cut to eight, with four appointed by the minister of education and four by the councils themselves, under a bill passed by Parliament today.

At present the councils can have between 12 and 20 members, with guaranteed representation for communities, students, staff, industry and Maori.

Education Minister Anne Tolley told Parliament she was changing polytech governance because more expertise and focus was needed on councils.

"At present it varies between good and poor," she said.

"Some haven't managed costs, six probably won't be viable in 2011 and across the board they're not living within their means."

Mrs Tolley said polytechs had been receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars of emergency funding to keep them going, and they couldn't rely on that in the future.

Labour's tertiary education spokeswoman, Maryan Street, said the bill was restrictive and did nothing to improve the vital courses polytechs offered.

"This is simply about governance, we should be trying to energise the sector," she said.

"This bill is based on old information, it's the mindset of National in opposition."

Ms Street said reducing the number of council members would cut out student, community, staff and industry representation which was essential for good governance and the provision of courses with regional relevance.

Government MPs said that wasn't the case because councils could choose whoever they wanted for the four places that were not determined by the minister.

The Maori Party opposed the bill after failing yesterday to insert an amendment that would have ensured Maori representation on the councils.

With the ACT Party's support, the bill passed its third reading 64-56

The changes come into effect on May 1 next year.

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