Cuts strain universities as student-to-staff ratios rise

Tertiary education institutions are feeling the impact of the highest student-to-staff ratios since 2016, with reports of staff dealing with more mental health difficulties in students, writes Jaime Cunningham for The New Zealand Herald.

New Ministry of Education data showed the ratio of students per academic staff member at universities was 19.6 in 2024, up from 18.7 in 2023. National polytechnic Te Pukenga also experienced a rise, up to 16.7 from 15.0. Private training establishments increased from 13.1 to 16.0 in the same time frame. The number of total staff across all institutions dropped by 1.1% in that period, from 50,240 to 49,700 and full-time equivalent staff also decreased by 0.5%.

Tertiary Education Union National Secretary Sandra Grey said there are fewer staff to get the work needed done. “This is because we’ve seen money coming out of the tertiary education sector … There isn’t enough to pay for the staff that are needed to look after students, and that’s not just academic staff, that’s all the support staff, the administrators, the counsellors, the doctors.”
Full report on The New Zealand Herald site