University of Otago bachelor of science and bachelor of law student Amy Corkery is sad the science division is being funded "at the expense" of humanities.
"That we get a bigger resource allocation because they are starving the arts department of that funding is really sad."
The fifth-year student says when she began studying at the university, politics, history, gender studies and economics were departments she considered studying in. However, she was attracted to the job security offered elsewhere.
"Arts got crossed off because I could see how science taught me solid, concrete skills."
While the Faculty of Law fell under the humanities umbrella, it was viewed by many as distinct from other humanities offerings, she said.
"Lots of my friends ended up doing law as well, because their parents said ‘we are not going to fund you for just a BA with other subjects’ ."
Miss Corkery admits there is "no job" that says she needs the skills she learnt from completing humanities papers, but the very skills they taught were important "for all jobs and everyday life".
"People tend to turn their nose up when people say it gives you good communication skills, and more empathetic skills ...
"But I write and read more critically because of the humanities papers I did, and people need to value these things."
Next year Miss Corkery will begin a job at a "big firm" in Wellington, working for its risk advisory team.
She says the job looking at cyber security and privacy law compliance is her "dream job".
"I can’t say that I regret not doing all of my study in the humanities, because I am in a position that I am very happy with, but I can say I regret not being able to do more humanities papers."
She says she is saddened by the prospect of job losses.
"It is sad for the wealth of creativity, and the ramifications for the wider community that the loss of this wealth of creativity will have."
‘‘critic and conscience of society’’, Ciaran Cullen (22) says.
The master of politics student says he has completed a "smorgasbord" of humanities papers during his four years at the University of Otago, noting he has not studied outside of the division.
"I am a more analytical and critical thinker because of them.
"I think you become more cynical because of humanities but you realise there is more at play in a lot of situations.
"Originally from Rotorua, the quality of academics in the Otago humanities division drew him to study at the university.
"Studying history in high school, again and again we would see this academic crop pop-up and a number of them were at Otago."
He completed a bachelor of arts in politics and history, and is now completing his masters course work on cyber-security policy under the supervision of Prof Robert Patman.
"He’s one of many humanities academics who the university is very, very lucky to have," Mr Cullen says.
He is unsure if he would have been so attracted to the division, and the university, if it had been facing the problems it is today.
"It would make me ask questions about what is going to be happening here four years, five years down the track if I was a prospective student."
He believed the impetus should be on the university and Government, rather than departmental staff, to build confidence in humanities subjects.
"It is a spending-focused process.
"It’s not a revenue process, because that would raise difficult questions for the university and the government about how these problems have been able to develop in the first place."
He believed the views of current humanities students needed to be listened to.
"Students give a massive vote of confidence in the university by coming here.
"As a student coming towards the end of my time here I want to ask, where is their vote of confidence in me as a paying student in the humanities?"
Next year Mr Cullen plans to apply the "critical skills" humanities has taught him to a job as a policy analyst, he said.