Students meet to discuss the proposed review and potential cuts of courses at the University of Auckland. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Students meet to discuss the proposed review and potential cuts of courses at the University of Auckland. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
A controversial course shake-up at the University of Auckland has prompted a mass student gathering this afternoon, ahead of emergency staff meetings.
The Herald understands the university is seeking to “optimise” its course offerings, with smaller postgraduate and undergraduate courses across multiple faculties in scope for review.
Helen Schnabel, a global studies student, fears she won't be able to finish her course if the proposed cuts go ahead. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
The review has been met by students and staff with widespread anger, confusion and concern that a raft of smaller courses are on the chopping block.
The university has, however, rejected the suggestion it was looking at axe all those under a certain threshold of enrolments and says the process is part of normal practice.
The changes were coming ahead of a planned shift for 2026, when new transdisciplinary courses would start being rolled out.
The plans have sparked a student-led forum, taking place in the university’s quad this afternoon, and a staff meeting planned for tomorrow.
Senior academics have also called their own emergency meeting of the university’s senate on Tuesday – the day after the university’s normal council sitting.
One senior lecturer – among more than 140 academics who signed a concerned letter to vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater – said there was frustration over a lack of consultation and transparency over the process, and tight timeframe.
“It’s an emergency hack-and-slash at the curriculum, because of poor planning and lack of consultation.”
Another said there was “a widespread sense that this process has gone off the rails”.
“Reviews of small courses are a regular thing. However, everyone believes that the scope, timing and urgency of this one has been driven by other, poorly costed initiatives.
“This is not how a university that aspires to greatness should be making decisions.”
Flyers about the course proposals have already been put up around the university.
It’s understood this afternoon’s student forum wasn’t organised by the Auckland University Students’ Association (AUSA), which the Herald this morning approached for comment.
In a statement sent out this month, and seen by the Herald, the AUSA said it’d been given assurances that courses under a certain number of enrolments would not be automatically scrapped.
The AUSA said it’d also been assured the university was committed to protecting smaller majors and disciplines, and that currently enrolled students wouldn’t have to change their majors.
The Tertiary Education Union organiser Nicole Wallace said the union had received a response from the university over the plans, and was now assessing it.
“The big thing that’s starting to happen is that the employer is saying this is business as usual, and our members are saying this is absolutely not business as usual,” she said.
“This is not helping how academic decisions are made.”
Auckland University claim that they will do everything they can to protect smaller majors and disciplines. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
In a statement sent to staff today, and provided to the Herald by the university, Freshwater reasserted there was no mandate to cut all courses with fewer than 60 students.
“What is underway is a coordinated, collective review of our portfolio of courses to ensure it is relevant and balanced, and to identify opportunities to remove unnecessary duplication,” she said.
“As new courses are added over time, we rebalance the curriculum by removing other courses that may be duplicative, or are no longer relevant or supported by student enrolments. This helps to maintain manageable staff workloads and reduces pressure on timetabling and teaching spaces.”
Freshwater said the university adjusted its course offerings annually, but this year had taken an “early collective approach” to look at opportunities for “increased cross-faculty collaboration” around courses.
“It is expected that this collective review will be broadly complete in August, with data and recommendations fed back into the normal annual faculty-based process for consideration and decision-making around potential course and regulation changes.”
Jamie Morton is a specialist in science and environmental reporting. He joined the Herald in 2011 and writes about everything from conservation and climate change to natural hazards and new technology.
