Expansion Of Tech. Institute Forecast

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32352, 18 July 1970, Page 14

Expansion Of Tech. Institute Forecast

The Christchurch Technical Institute would “clearly” expand on to sites other than that which it at present occupies in Moorhouse Avenue, the principal of the institute (Mr C. V. Gallagher) said yesterday.

Mr Gallagher was commenting on a statement in “The Press” on Friday by the regional superintendent of education (Mr H. M. McMil-

lan) who said there was “no possibility” of the institute taking over the Hagley High School site in the foreseeable future. The present growth rate of the institute was more than 10 per cent annually. Mr Gallagher said. “Much of the present site will be lost with the development of the motorway and further limiting factors are the one-way streets and the increasing volume of traffic on Moorhouse Avenue,” he said. It was not the institute's responsibility to seek further sites, he said, but that of the Department of Education to recommend alternatives to the institute’s board of governors.

Mr Gallagher said the historical development of technical education meant that technical schools and later technical institutes grew with little or no playing fields and few facilities that would broaden and liberalise the education of their students.

“I must agree, most strongly, with the need for more corporate life in technical institutes. The future will see more full-time courses and the public will need to associate the word ‘education’ with ‘training’.” Too often the word “technical” conjured up images of the Industrial Revolution, with workers slaving to fatten the purses of their employers, Mr Gallagher said. “This pattern is unfortunately preserved in the development of technical education in New Zealand.” “The technician and the skilled tradesman are the keys to our future national prosperity, and it is vital that they be given the opportunities offered all other forms of education —with their fine campuses and student amenities,” Mr Gallagher said.