The Auckland Institute of Technology in transition

There were ramifications for the wider New Zealand tertiary sector. Within the polytechnics, attention was focused on the parity of: systems ascribed to the various classes of institution, and to the qualificalions they awarded. Proposals for the establishment of a New Zealand University of Technology were advanced as a result of this and as a consequence of AIT's quest to become a university. There were policy issues raised at Government level. AIT's quest for university status initiated a debate about the interpretation of the 1989 education Amendment Act which sets out the characteristics of universities and polytechnics. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) took two years (1996-97) to propose, take submissions on, and establish guidelines for interpretation of the Act.The broader debate about the interpretation of the Act opened up the wider issues of the meaning of a university in the late 199Os, what the boundaries bctween polytechnics and universities were, how many universities and polytechnics a country like New Zealand should have, and whether the ability of some tertiary institutions in New Zealand to compete in the international marketplace had been eroded by the elimination in the late 1980s and early 1990s of the binary systems for higher education in Australia and the UK.