Hundreds of wananga jobs likely to go

More than 300 jobs look likely to be axed at Te Wananga o Aotearoa following a slump in student numbers.

The Weekend Herald understands hui will be held at the institution's 11 campuses this month to detail the changes needed to reduce costs.

It is understood at least a quarter of the institute's 1265 staff will lose their jobs. The number of expected effective fulltime students (EFTS) was only around 18,000 - a drop of about 9000 from last year - and a little more than half the 34,000 EFTS the wananga attracted as the country's largest tertiary institute in 2003.

While reports of the coming cuts were no surprise for staff spoken to by the Weekend Herald, their scale has shocked some.

"It is terrible that we must continue to work in an environment when we know we could be out of a job at any time," said a staff member who did not want to be named.

The move follows the redundancy of 60 staff in February.

Tuia Staff Union spokesman Tank Gordon, who represents around 600 wananga staff, said the union accepted redundancies were inevitable.

"If the wananga is to survive then this has to happen. If we don't restructure there will be no wananga."

A senior wananga source said the institute was overstaffed and levels were based on past student numbers.

"Those glory days are over, we have around 1200 staff, and no longer the student numbers to warrant it."

The exact number of redundancies is expected to be announced after the hui which begin on April 10.

National education spokesman Bill English said the Government must take full responsibility for the pending job losses.

"The Government have been hell bent on bringing the wananga to heel."

In May last year the Wananga agreed to the appointment of a Crown manager, Brian Roche.

Mr English said under the Crown manager's direction the wananga's performance had continued to decline.

"He held the chequebook for the past 10 months and things have gotten worse. The Government runs the wananga and they are responsible."

The news comes as a blow for the wananga which was thrown a life line late last year by the Tertiary Education Commission, which agreed to fund 25,500 EFTS for this year.

Income this financial year was expected to be around $140 million, down from $160 million last year.

Staff spoken to by the Weekend Herald have blamed what they say was an almost endless run of negative publicity last year, including stinging criticisms from both Opposition MPs and the Government.

It is understood the Te Awamutu head office is likely to take the brunt of the losses.

Wananga chairman Craig Coxhead said the hui were part of an ongoing programme and denied any decisions had been made on who was going to go.