Course cuts and anchoring colleges leaves students and staff in the dark

Massey refuses to say if staff will lose their jobs as new policies come to cut courses and anchor each subject to just one physical campus.  

The university was consulting on the new Digital Plus policy which aims to anchor colleges to one physical campus with online study, unless it could be justified financially. 

The No and Low Enrolment policy was being updated along with this, to make it easier and quicker for the university to shut down courses, qualifications, and specialisations. 

Tertiary Education Union (TEU) Massey organiser Ben Schmidt said the university refused to say how many courses or jobs might be cut. 

Neither did the policies specify if current students will have to move to a different campus if they wish to continue in-person study.  

Nowhere in the policy did it state if staff will be made redundant or be relocated if these policies go ahead.  

The draft policy procedures stated that an undergraduate qualification with less than 50 full time students per year would be considered low enrolment and be put on the chopping block with no consultation from staff or students.  

For undergraduate courses, low was deemed to be less than 7.5 full-time students per offering for 100-level, less than 5 full-time students per offering for 200-level and less than 2.5 full-time students per offering for 300-level. 

For a standalone Postgraduate Diploma or a standalone Master’s degree, low was deemed to be less than 15 full-time students per year.  

The policy stated that a subgroup of the Senior Leadership Team will make final decisions, students and staff were not included.  

Schmidt said, “The staff who teach these programs, the students who learn in them, have to be a part of the decision making.”   

“That is not the way to go, nor has the employer provided any clear or transparent information about what exactly the consequences would be of implementing this policy.”  

With course cuts and anchoring colleges, Schmidt was deeply concerned that job cuts will increase.  

He said staff were primarily told about the policies through the union, not by the university.  

“Our members are still seeking clarity about what the consequences could be, that is not acceptable.”  

He said staff were “unequivocally opposed to the proposed Digital Plus policy”. 

Staff from the humanities, social sciences, and sciences had contacted the union and were fearful their disciplines would not reach the required enrolment targets.  

The policies aims to save money; however, the Government announced an extra $128m funding boost for universities in June.   

A Massey University spokesperson said, “It is normal for us at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University to review our polices.”  

They said the university had consulted with staff on both policies and will consider feedback before they are finalised.    

“As the university continues to work towards a more financially sustainable future, we need to identify improvements so that we work more efficiently”.  

The spokesperson said that Massey must continue to find ways to use taxpayer money wisely to ensure a sustainable future in our core areas of teaching, learning, and research.  

To ensure the university has a sustainable future, the spokesperson said Massey focused on examining the university’s academic profile to reduce the proportion of courses, specialisations and programmes with low enrolment numbers.  

Massey attempted to pass the Digital Plus policy in 2020 but was met with backlash. 

Te Tira Ahu Pae Māori president Ramairoa Tawera had concerns around the wording used in the No and Low Enrolment policy to cancel Māori-related courses.  

The policy states, “In the context of our Te Tiriti o Waitangi commitments, programmes of significance for Māori will be carefully considered regarding the application of both this policy and the accompanying procedures.” 

Tawera was concerned that it did not define what a course of significance to Māori was. 

The policy also stated that the relevant college can “consider and set out criteria” to improve enrolment, but it did not say how colleges can actively seek out students.  

“It just seemed very vague,” said Tawera, “from Massey’s end it looks like they're just saving.”  

He felt the enrolment requirements were unfair for cultural classes as the population of Māori is smaller.  

“Seven students might sound like very little for a course but for the Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts, that's a whole year group.” 

Te Tira Ahu Pae Pasifika president Aniva Feau agreed with Tawera, saying Māori-related papers need a different system.   

She said there would never be a good time to phase into anchoring colleges.  

“No matter when they make the change, there's still gonna be people halfway through their degrees that are gonna have to up and leave and move around.” 

“I can see how Massey would benefit from it, but it’s hard to see how current students are gonna benefit.”  

She said cutting papers with solely a policy and no consultation with students could get messy. 

She saw the value in many of Massey’s papers, “Aotearoa’s is the only place you can study Māori Agriculture… these papers with a twist that are really important”.