Auckland University academics have reacted with anger to news more than 50 jobs will go, saying the university is putting jobs ahead of academic excellence.
Association of University Staff (AUS) Auckland branch president Helen Charters said it was now confirmed 21 fulltime arts positions would be cut, while33 would go from the education and business faculties.
The university has previously said it must act in the face of dwindling student numbers but Dr Charters labelled the cuts a "crude and short-sighted action".
She said the university had a "bums on seats" and destructive market-mentality approach to public education.
"The vice-chancellor acts as though the university is a corporation, where each staff member is expected to turn a profit, and where academic and social values are given only token acknowledgment," Dr Charters said.
"This undermines important functions of a university - to ensure the advancement of knowledge, to foster and protect critical thinking and to advance the country's social and economic development."
Of the 21 arts positions affected, nine were to be disestablished while the remainder would go through retirements, voluntary redundancies or natural attrition.
University spokesman Bill Williams said they would not be making any comment about AUS's remarks.
