A union leader fears that proposed changes to the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic's student administration services could lead to "significant job losses" and a "considerable loss of institutional knowledge".
The response follows a Bay of Plenty Times report that the tertiary institution had begun consultation on centralising the administrative servicesof its four academic schools following the implementation of Tribal Group's new information management system, ebs4.
The student management information system is software that records data associated with enrolments, finances, assessment and performance, timetabling, resourcing and the award of qualifications.
Tertiary Institutes Allied Staff Association chief executive Peter Joseph, who heads the union for non-teaching staff across the New Zealand tertiary education sector, said: "The proposal, if implemented in its current form, would result in significant job losses.
He preferred not to disclose how many staff were involved but said restructuring could have far-reaching effects.
"We and our members have a number of concerns regarding the proposal and are seeking to address those through the consultation process, through our submissions," Mr Joseph said.
"One of those concerns is that the decision to centralise was not part of the consultation, only what form that centralisation would take."
Mr Joseph said it was a busy time in the sector, with numerous staffing reviews and bargaining nationwide.
Mr Joseph did not respond to questions relating to whether the polytechnic had entered into the process in good faith or if the union would consider fighting the proposed changes if its submissions were unsuccessful.
TIASA will present its submission to the chief executive Dr Alan Hampton on Monday. Consultation finishes today.
The move follows the polytechnic's 2012 annual report, in which the council chairman, Ian Turner, said about $1.2 million of the retained surplus of $1.83 million was attributable to Government funding which will not be available in future years.
"When all exceptional items such as this are excluded from the retained surplus, our earnings from operations, the underlying operating surplus, have decreased by some $2 million compared to 2011."
