A university leader that has proposed hundreds of job cuts is warning that many other institutions will face the same challenges this year.
AUT vice-chancellor Damon Salesa defended his institution's decision to cut several hundred roles on the back of financial stress from a turbulent economy and Covid-19.
The loss of international students has made a big dent in university revenue, with student numbers yet to return to pre-pandemic levels despite the border reopening last year.
"When you become a vice-chancellor or a leader, the last thing you want to do is lay off your staff," Salesa told Q+A with Jack Tame. "So it is very much the last step you take.
"But the challenge for the university is that you have a three-year relationship with students. If they’re not here for the first year, they’re also not here for the second and third years. The deep cost of Covid is not a one-year thing, and it won’t be a one-year recovery."
He said AUT had made the decision not to lay off staff during the earlier years of the pandemic, but the bill was now due.
The interview was recorded before Otago University announced proposals to cut several hundred jobs, having also been hit with a drop in enrolments.
But in a prescient comment, Salesa told Tame that other universities were likely to be following AUT in having to make redundancies.
"We’re already seeing AUT is not alone – we were the first university to experience that and make the decision that we could wait no longer.
"But this year, we’re going to see many of the universities – most of them – in very difficult places, and some hard decisions will have to be made."
The plans for cuts at AUT were temporarily paused following a legal challenge by affected staff.
Salesa noted that all universities in New Zealand operate under roughly the same financial model, relying on international student fees, domestic enrolments, and government contributions to survive.
Salesa, who went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, said he is passionate about providing access to education regardless of a student's socioeconomic background.
"Education made the difference in my life, and my parents knew it," said Salesa.
His mother came to Auckland from the countryside to seek an education, and his father came to New Zealand from Sāmoa.
"I knew that it was something that I enjoyed, but also something that delivered opportunity into my life."
Growing up in the Auckland suburb of Glen Innes, he said many of the families around them lived tough lives, but it was clear to him that those who got good education were better able to secure their futures.
Of the country's eight universities, AUT has the largest proportion of students entering study from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
On international students, Salesa called for improvements in the experience they get while studying in Aotearoa.
He said the model of international students has effectively given the country's eight universities a financial subsidy so that fees for domestic students don't go as high as they'd otherwise be.
"For New Zealand students and the New Zealand public, it's been a great deal – we don't pay the full cost of a university education," said Salesa.
"But for those students, many of whom are spending their family's life savings on an education, we really owe them a great opportunity."
He added that those who study in New Zealand, including many leaders around the Pacific, can become "the most powerful ambassadors for New Zealand" globally.
Q+A is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
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