Over 70 jobs to go at education institute

The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) has proposed cutting more than 70 jobs in its latest round of restructuring.

The proposal was announced yesterday by chief executive Dr Roy Sharp and would see 76 positions axed.

This would reduce the total number of full-time equivalent staff at the commission to 292.5.

However, the proposed restructuring would also create 24 new positions, Dr Sharp said.

The commission oversees tertiary education and allocates funding.

Final decisions on the proposal are expected by April 2.

The Public Service Association (PSA), which has 130 members working at the TEC, said the proposal appeared to aim to cut costs, rather than improve tertiary education outcomes.

PSA national secretary Brenda Pilott said the last round of restructuring in 2007 saw 86 jobs cut and 12 regional offices closed.

She questioned the commission's decision when it had already been through a major restructure.

New positions were created in 2007 round and the commission was now proposing to cut some of those positions, Ms Pilott said.

Staff at the commission had a huge job to do, and were already struggling with the workload, she said.

The proposal would mean staff would have even more work and this would affect the service the commission provided, Ms Pilott said.

The union would be making a submission on the proposed job cuts .

Labour's tertiary education spokeswoman, Maryan Street, said the proposal made a mockery of the Government's promise to cap, not reduce, job numbers in the public service.

The redundancy proposal threatened the important work of the commission, whose job was to agree on funding levels and monitor the performance of the tertiary education providers, she said.

"These are the very organisations which New Zealand is going to turn to more and more as the recession deepens, to upskill New Zealanders and fit them for a smarter, more productive economy when we come out of the recession," Ms Street said.

- NZPA