21 job cuts and counting in Canterbury University reshuffle

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Canterbury University has axed 21 jobs, with more redundancies expected.

The university announced yesterday that 46 general positions had been cut under the Star (supporting teaching and research) project, with 25 new roles to be advertised.

The job cuts are in financial services, the University Centre for Teaching and Learning, the planning, information and reporting unit, student administration, human resources, continuing and bridging education and information and communications technology.

The Star project aimed to free up the university's budget so it could focus on academic services, University human resources director Paul O'Flaherty said.

"It's mostly about ensuring we have as many staff positions in the academic area as we can, and it's also about students, because it will improve staff-to-student ratios."

O'Flaherty said the cuts would not affect general services, which the university would be able to deliver "as effectively as, if not more effectively, than in the past".

He said the university would announce further restructuring over the next six weeks, which would then go through a consultation process before being finalised.

Tertiary Education Union (TEU) Canterbury University branch president Megan Clayton said she was "reasonably happy" with the way the cuts had been made.

The union had been involved in the consultation process, and had had "some successes" with changes.

"We worked closely with the university to put forward some alternative ideas and models, and some of the issues we brought up did lead to changes."

However, Clayton said, the job cuts had been "pretty devastating".

- © Fairfax NZ News