The polytechnics in Tauranga and Rotorua want to merge.
Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce has opened consultation on the proposal by Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and Waiariki Institute of Technology.
He said the institutions wanted to form a new organisation serving the entire Bay of Plenty.
Earlier this month Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology and Aoraki Polytechnic announced that they wished to merge.