Catholic tertiary institutes to merge

Thursday, April 4th, 2019

New Zealand Catholic has reported that a single provider for Catholic tertiary education is expected to be fully in place for the 2020 academic year.

The Society of Mary has agreed to relinquish co-ownership and governance of Good Shepherd College (GSC).

In a letter to the staff of the merging institutions, establishment board chair Sir Brian Roche said the Provincial Council of the Society of Mary informed the New Zealand bishops that “the society would prefer to withdraw from its current commitments to co-ownership and governance of Good Shepherd College, but retain its commitment to teaching”.

The society also confirmed that it supports the bishops’ plan to merge GSC with The Catholic Institute (TCI).

The bishops remain fully committed to forming seminarians in New Zealand, with face-to-face delivery of the theology degree and Ratio Studiorum requirements as a vital element of their formation,” Sir Brian wrote.

“They [bishops] are also committed to a qualified workforce in New Zealand’s Catholic schools, to assure the quality of both Catholic special character and religious education.”

GSC acting principal Fr Merv Duffy gave an assurance that the needs of the new students will be met even with the merger.

“NZQA has been very clear that all students embarking on an award must have a pathway to completion. So, the interests of the students will be carefully looked after,” he told NZ Catholic.

Duffy noted there is a good intake of new students this semester, with 20 out of 59 studying at GSC for the first time.

He also said that more than half of the students (30 of 59) are studying by distance rather than on-campus.

Seminarian numbers are down with only three new diocesan seminarians studying at the college and no current seminarians from the Society of Mary studying there.

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