Staff will be reduced across all of Toi Ohomai's campuses. Photo / File
Staff will be reduced across all of Toi Ohomai's campuses. Photo / File
Seventeen jobs will be cut across Toi Ohomai, the majority at the institute's Rotorua campus.
Earlier in the year the polytechnic announced a proposal to reduce staffing numbers by 18.4 fulltime equivalent roles (FTE) to "ensure the ongoing sustainability of the institution".
After consultation with staff, it has been decided 17.7 FTE will be reduced across six faculties and several campuses. Of those, 9.7 FTE have already taken voluntary redundancy or been redeployed within the company.
Toi Ohomai chief executive Leon Fourie said the changes were to bring resources in line with budget.
"We can't run programmes that are not going to be cost effective," he said.
Fourie said this was because a number of the programmes requiring staff cuts were taught at that campus.
Toi Ohomai chief executive Leon Fourie. Photo / Supplied
"We're realigning our resources to the 2018 budget and these are the implications."
The change from the proposed 18.4 FTE to finalised 17.7 FTE was a result of consultation Fourie said.
He said either consultation revealed an area where staff shouldn't be cut or enrolments reached a level which justified keeping staff.
The teaching and learning review is an annual review. Fourie said the insitute only knew what enrolments might look like towards March of each year so that was why the review had been finalised now.
"We didn't want to pull the plug too early because we had fees free. We thought there might have been an uptake but for us it hasn't delivered the way we thought it would."
Fourie said he wanted to make it clear no programmes were being cut as part of the process, and the staff changes were a result of an annual teaching and learning review.
The only specific programme change was the New Zealand Certificate in Adult and Tertiary Teaching L5, and the New Zealand Certificate in Adult Literacy and Numeracy Education L5. Both will move from on-campus to online delivery.
The staff reductions are one of a large number in the last year or so. Between August 2017 and January 2018, 113 staff left the organisation. Either through resignation, redundancy or voluntary redundancy.
But Fourie said it was important to note that in the past four months, 42 new teaching staff had been recruited. Of those, 29 were permanent - fifteen in Rotorua, 12 in Tauranga and two in Whakatane.
Across all its sites, Toi Ohomai has 782.6 FTE staff including 375.9 teaching staff.
The Tertiary Education Union was approached for comment but could not be reached.
When the proposal for 18.4 FTE to be cut was made, the union's national secretary, Sharn Riggs, said it was disappointing.
She said the job cuts were because the institution "did not meet narrow funding metrics" which "ignore the huge contribution institutions like Toi Ohomai make to their communities".
"Public institutions like Toi Ohomai are responsible for some of the most creative and innovative teaching in the country, and the funding model must support this."
Faculties with reductions: - Tourism, Hospitality and Service Industries – 4.5 FTE - Education, Health Nursing & Social Services – 1.9 FTE - Primary Industries, Environment & Science – 4.3 FTE - Trades & Logistics – 1.0 FTE - Community Wellbeing & Development – 4.5 FTE - Business, Management & Legal Studies – 1.5 FTE - Engineering, Creative Industries, Technology & Infrastructure – 0 FTE
Campuses with reductions: - Mokoia campus (7.3 FTE) - Windermere campus (2.1 FTE) - Whakatane campus (2 FTE) - Opotiki delivery site (1 FTE) A further 5.3 FTE are being cut from the Trades and Primary Industry faculties where staff work at more than one campus.
