Bharat Guha feels a moral obligation to fight for the famous Zero Fees Scheme he helped make happen for the Southern Institute of Technology 23 years ago. Related: Penny Simmonds Receives Zero Fees Petition

As the once Chief Financial Officer of SIT, Bharat has started a petition which asks the House of Representatives to consider removing the SIT from Te Pūkenga’s tertiary reforms. Related: Students Worried About Affordability of SIT If Zero Fees Scrapped

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The Zero Fee Scheme attracted Kiwis from all walks of life to Invercargill to undertake an education programme. Degree programmes were the most popular as a student could undertake a Bachelor of Nursing paying only $1,200 for Direct Material Costs per annum – compared to other polytechnics at around $8,000 per annum. Savings to students were huge.

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“Besides the savings that students can make, I don’t think people understand the economic implications of this loss to the City of Invercargill,” Bharat said.

SIT has contributed half a billion dollars (from 2018 to 2022) to the GDP of Southland and created over 1,100 FTE jobs. This was validated through an economic impact assessment undertaken by BERL. A copy of the report can be downloaded at https://sit.ac.nz/Portals/0/upload/Documents/pdf/EIA_of_SIT_final_report.pdf

Bharat said he still remembers accompanying the former CEO, Penny Simmonds, to meetings with community leaders and Invercargill business owners to raise the $7.25 m.

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The funders were:

Community Trust of Southland $3,452,390
Invercargill Licensing Trust $1,726,194
Invercargill City Council $1,208,000
Southland District Council $ 345,220
Southland Businesses $ 518,196

SIT only received community funding once, to kick-start the Zero Fee Scheme and was self-sustaining from 2003 onwards on government funding.

Bharat left SIT in 2016 to pursue a career overseas and when he returned in lockdown, he decided to join the National Party and help campaign against the tertiary reforms.

Now working for the Invercargill Licensing Trust as its Chief Financial Officer, Bharat is back on the receiving end of education, studying health and safety at SIT Te Pūkenga part-time.

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He only pays $411 for the course but that would soon rise to $3,000 if the tertiary reforms came through under a Labour government.

He urges people to go online and help fight for their polytechnic, “because at the end of the day, it’s the community of Invercargill that had the bravery and foresight to invest in this Scheme.”

Bharat said his petition would close on August 20, and then he would give it to Penny Simmonds, MP for Invercargill, who would present it at Parliament and onto the select committee for review.

Former SIT CFO Passionate To Save Zero Fees Scheme

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