700 university staff to leave their jobs

Nearly 700 university staff are losing or leaving their jobs because of a financial hole left by falling foreign enrolments in New Zealand. The eight institutions are missing hundreds of millions in student fees this year because they are expecting no more than 10,000 international students – less than half the normal figure, writes John Gerritsen for RNZ.

Since last year they have been cutting positions and calling for voluntary redundancies or “early leaving” that will run through this year and into the start of next year. At the University of Auckland, 300 people have signed up for a voluntary leaving package, at Victoria University of Wellington, 100 have put their hands up for voluntary redundancy, and at each of the Auckland University of Technology, Massey University and Lincoln University more than 70 staff have left or are going. Only the University of Otago, which limits international students to no more than 15% of its total enrolments, has made no cuts at all.

Tertiary Education Union President Tina Smith said the cuts were huge and the most experienced researchers were leaving. She said the universities were over-reacting because domestic enrolments were growing and the institutions had not lost as much money as they expected.
Full report on the NZ Herald site