The resignations of two University of Otago professors whose departments are earmarked for merger is coincidental, School of Business dean Prof George Benwell says.
He has proposed the merger of the departments of accountancy and business law and finance and quantitative analysis, a move aimed at lifting the research outputs of staff and enabling the departments to access more money from the Government's performance-based research fund (PBRF).
The details of the merger, leaked to the Otago Daily Times this week, revealed the heads of both departments, Prof Robin Grieves (finance) and Prof Roger Willett (accounting) had resigned.
Prof Grieves would return to the United States in July and Prof Willet to Australia early next year, the report said.
It is understood both resigned shortly before the merger was announced to staff on April 19.
Prof Benwell would not say when the men resigned but said in a statement yesterday their departures were for "separate personal reasons, which are entirely unrelated to the proposal".
"Indeed, the fact that we are losing these valuable academic leaders is one of several reasons why a merger of the two departments is being considered."
