The Hound was intrigued to read an article recently, on the Newsroom website, that shows that Education Minister Chris ‘Chippy’ Hipkins was pushing strongly behind the scenes for a merger of Lincoln and Canterbury universities.

Any suggestion of a merger between Lincoln University and the University of Canterbury is now dead in the water following the Minister of Education’s rejection of a partnership proposal by the two institutions.

The Government is paying another $4.7 million to keep the Telford farm campus going for another two years.