HE institutions hold stop-work meetings to demand funding

About 30 universities and polytechnics held stop-work meetings across New Zealand on Thursday 14 September to highlight to politicians how much they’re struggling financially, writes Cushla Norman for 1News.

The Tertiary Education Union invited politicians from all stripes to meetings to demand a commitment to more funding for the sector. “This election is upon us and it will make or break tertiary education in Aotearoa,” Tertiary Education Union President Julie Douglas told a large crowd at Victoria University. She said universities had been through a “damn tough year” with “s****y things happening”. “Decades of under-investment have seen polytechnics go to the wall. We’ve seen universities slashing courses and ultimately the cutting of jobs,” Douglas said.

Otago, Massey and Victoria universities are all proposing job cuts to cope with large deficits. Victoria University faces a NZ$33 million (US$19.5 million) shortfall and 260 jobs are on the chopping block. Nearly 80 staff have already taken voluntary redundancy. Early next week, staff will hear what jobs will be gone.
Full report on the 1News site