Vice-Chancellor Professor Dawn Freshwater was among those behind the joint faculty proposal. She said today that the university had listened carefully to feedback in deciding to pause the proposal.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Dawn Freshwater was among those behind the joint faculty proposal. She said today that the university had listened carefully to feedback in deciding to pause the proposal.
A controversial proposal to merge the University of Auckland’s law and business schools has been dropped.
Vice-Chancellor Dawn Freshwater emailed staff this afternoon, saying the university had listened carefully to feedback from staff, students and the wider community.
“In response, the University has decided to pause the proposalat this time,” Freshwater said.
The university will still look at ways for the two faculties to collaborate but they will no longer be formally merged.
Opponents said the merger would undermine the law school’s status and independence, shift it too far towards business priorities, and lacked a clear justification.
The university’s senate overwhelmingly voted against the proposal in March. Around 40 per cent of the senate’s 518 members attended the meeting, with 50 endorsing the proposal and 121 voting not to endorse.
It was also opposed by the Law Association of New Zealand and the Tertiary Education Union.
Freshwater said in her email today that the university will still go ahead with several initiatives that would fulfil the objectives of the merger, which were “enhancing academic collaboration, ensuring professional relevance, and responding to an evolving educational landscape”.
One of those initiatives could be a joint graduate school that combined covering law, business and engineering. A working group has been tasked with exploring this proposal.
Opponents had expressed concern that the law faculty would be subsumed into the much larger business school. Photo / Courtesy of Trends Publishing, taken by Jamie Cobeldick
The university had originally said the merger would align the two faculties with its broader strategic goals and encourage greater collaboration.
While cost-cutting was not cited as a reason for the merger, it comes as tertiary funding is reviewed by the Government.
“The original proposal was brought forward in response to real and ongoing challenges,” Freshwater said.
“There are pressures relating to professional relevance and programme innovation, with the whole tertiary sector facing challenges to long-term sustainability.
“We acknowledge that this revised approach will not fully address the strategic imperatives identified in the original proposal. However, it reflects a constructive and considered response to those challenges – enabling meaningful progress.”
Among those who criticised the merger was one of the law faculty’s biggest donors, John Mayo.
“I am quite offended by the proposal because I did not intend my financial support to end up as an adjunct to the business school,” Mayo told the Herald in April.
A decision on the merger was originally scheduled to be made by the university’s council behind closed doors in March.
After complaints about secrecy and a legal letter from opponents, it was postponed to an extraordinary meeting on April 7. That vote was postponed at the last minute, raising speculation that the proposal would be shelved.
Isaac Davison is a senior reporter who covers Auckland issues. He joined theHeraldin 2008 and has previously covered the environment, politics and social issues, and healthcare.
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