The managing director of TAFE NSW has said the state's only public vocational education provider should operate more like a "large supermarket chain".

Jon Black, TAFE's managing director and a former commanding officer at Duntroon, made the analogy in a memo to staff last week.

In his "Friday five" message Mr Black answered his own "hot question".

"Will the [TAFE] institutes be merging, and how will this happen?" he wrote to staff.