Fear is spreading across the sector the tertiary education funding boost for universities secured in the 2023 Budget, which equated to $64 million a year, could be cut for next year.
Tertiary Education Union (TEU) assistant general secretary Daniel Benson-Guiu said he had not seen any briefings, but was aware of talk among the sector that these cuts could happen.
"By scrapping the tertiary education funding boost, this government is cutting the budgets of universities by 4% — this is a huge cut.
"Dunedin will be hit hard if the university proceeds to cut courses and staff as a result of the government’s actions.
"This government is yet again showing it is doing very little for Dunedin."
Mr Benson-Guiu said the funding increase was won by staff across all eight universities when TEU members went out in New Zealand’s largest university strikes in a generation.
Stuff reported it had seen leaked briefings the government was considering scrapping the funding increase across universities, which was approved in 2023 by then-finance minister Grant Robertson and then-education minister Jan Tinetti.
The funding came at a time when several universities, including Otago, were cutting courses and staff in the wake of lower-than-budgeted enrolments post-Covid and decreased revenue.
Universities Minister Shane Reti directed queries to Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds, who said Budget decisions had not yet been locked in.
"The previous government funded a temporary 4% increase to tuition subsidy rates for degree level and above provision in 2024 and 2025," she said.
"No decisions have been made on funding rates for 2026.
"These will be considered as part of the upcoming Budget process," she said.
Universities New Zealand chief executive Chris Whelan said he had not seen any briefings from the government, but he would not be surprised if it had already made its mind up.
"It would be incredibly disappointing if all of that funding disappears and it is going to really make it hard for universities to be able to kind of deliver the value that government has said with one hand that it wants, but seems to be making it much, much harder to achieve with the other hand."
Mr Whelan said although universities would not "go to the wall" if the funding increase was dropped, it would mean many of them would have to make some "tough decisions" about courses and staffing.
He said the timing for universities was not great, as they were awaiting the findings of an independent review of universities and university funding
Labour spokeswoman for tertiary education Deborah Russell said without a new funding model, universities would be left "high and dry" if this cut went ahead.
She was expecting the report on universities and their funding to be out in the next few weeks.
"But the next sign of what we could be looking for will come in the Budget in May.
"That’s leaving it awfully late for universities, just a few months out from the next financial year, so that’s going to be tough for them."
Green MP Francisco Hernandez said he had heard reports the government was considering these moves.
If they were to happen, it could lead to "yet more" staff and course cutbacks at universities such as Otago.
"This does look like it’s going to be another kick in the guts for the South," he said.
Otago University chief financial officer Brian Trott said any reduction in funding would present challenges for the university, given the high levels of inflation in recent times.
"We continue to work with the government to make sure that we get the support that is needed to continue to deliver high-quality research and teaching."
