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Proposals to cut 13 jobs at the University of Canterbury's College of Arts have been greeted with dismay by the Association of University Staff (AUS).
The move showed how confused management was, AUS said after the university today released a revised draft implementation plan for its restructuring of the College of Arts.
AUS said new proposals were never discussed with the Head of Theatre and Film Studies and made "almost as little sense as the plan to axe the whole programme".
"This begs the question whether the vice-chancellor has fulfilled his contractual obligation to staff which requires that there be an attempt to reach agreement over any planned changes."
The plan followed a review of the college aimed at modernising courses, trimming the amount of overlap between courses, and making it financially secure.
The review included proposals to close the American Studies and Theatre and Film Studies programmes at the end of the year, and incorporate other programmes into eight schools.
At present, the college has 11 schools.
After 340 submissions to a review panel, the plan released today outlined two options - eight schools, as originally proposed, or five.
The university still intended to reduce Art History staff numbers, as originally proposed, vice-chancellor Roy Sharp said.
It would now retain the American Studies programme, but with a reduction in staff, Film Studies academic staff would move to English, and Theatre Studies would be retained.
"The overall result will be reductions of 6.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) academic staff positions and 6.5 FTE general staff positions."
The University said it wanted to consult staff further about the number of schools and their names.
"This is the only aspect of the restructuring that will be subject to further consultation."
AUS said American Studies would now have a staff-to-student ratio of 1 to 45.3, 50 per cent higher than the highest student to staff ratio in an existing programme in the college.
"Both models for a new college structure involve considerable disruption and uncertainty for the administrative staff," AUS said.
"While fewer job losses will be incurred, the implementation of the new structure will not be finalised until the second half of the year," said AUS national president Maureen Montgomery.
She expressed deep concern about the long-term sustainability of the College of Arts.
- NZPA
