In a letter sent to staff this afternoon, Waikato University bosses said the institution has seen a "steady decline" in enrolments since 2009, which had been more dramatic since 2013. Despite "trimming expenditure" the university said it had "not kept pace with the drop in income".
The redundancy proposal cuts across all specialities in the Te Hononga School of Curriculum and Pegagogy - with 1.6 full-time equivalent senior tutor positions disestablished in arts education; 0.5 in language and literacy education; two in maths; three in science, technology and environment; and one in social studies.
In the Te Oranga School of Human Development and Movement Studies two full-time equivalent senior lecturer positions will go in the disability and inclusions studies; two in sports and leisure. However the new Tauranga facility will be exempt, and one position will be established.
Jobs will also go in the early childhood education department, IT education and in some administration roles.
In its proposal, the university said the "number of people affected by this proposal is greater than the number of positions that will eventually be reduced".
The university has now entered a consultation period, and staff have until May 27 to email submissions.
"It is important to note that this is a proposal only, and that no final decisions have been made," the letter said.
In a separate document, the university said it would only contract the Pathways College to a private provider that was "highly reputable international provider with extensive global resources and networks, and a high-quality profile in the pre-degree and English Language programmes market".
Any such arrangement would be on a partnership basis, it said, and its programmes would be approved by the university.
The move was driven by a push to "significantly increase" the number of international students attending the university, it said.
University of Waikato Vice-Chancellor Professor Neil Quigley told the Herald in a statement that a fall in enrolments in the Faculty of Education had driven a review of staffing.
"In contrast to the growth in student numbers in other parts of the university, enrolments in Education have declined for the past few years and the university has now reached the point where it cannot continue to absorb reductions in the revenue of the Faculty of Education without adjustments to staffing levels," the statement said.
"Affected staff are being communicated and consulted with, and all staff across the faculty have been asked to provide feedback by the end of the month on the change proposal. It is proposed that 16.28 full-time equivalent staff are disestablished."
Professor Quigley said the university was also consulting with staff in the Pathways College.
"Around the world, there are more than 1000 English-medium Foundation programmes, of which half are delivered by five private providers," Professor Quigley says.
"The University of Waikato believes that management by a private provider will give the Pathways College access to a larger and more specialised network for the recruitment of students, the effectiveness of which will far exceed that of the existing recruitment channels managed by the university itself.
"The proposal is therefore designed to create a structure within which the university can substantially increase enrolments in its pathway programmes."
