Otago University school of biomedical science staff found out their fate at a meeting yesterday, after decisions were made about a proposed restructure.
More than 60 staff submitted on the proposal, which would have initially cut 13 fulltime-equivalent academic staff.
The school includes the departments of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, microbiology and immunology, and pharmacology and toxicology, and has about 320 staff.
Health sciences pro-vice-chancellor Prof Megan Gibbons said after careful consideration of the 64 submissions received on the proposal, and in light of the voluntary redundancies and other resignations received (totalling 10.36 FTE), "the management of change process will continue only for the reduction of one FTE academic staff member".
"We have met with staff potentially affected by this and acknowledge this remains a very difficult time for them.
"We continue to offer them support as we work through this process.
"We also acknowledge those staff who opted to take voluntary redundancy."
Tertiary Education Union co-president Craig Marshall said the whole process had been "exhausting" and "stressful" for such a "high performing" part of the university.
Many of the departments had lost enough staff through voluntary redundancies and retirements not to have to lose further staff through the restructure.
"It seems the whole thing was driven by some perverse financial structure that did not make much sense to us.
"All the process seemed to do was cause insecurity and concern among staff."
He was worried about the financial and human cost of the process.
"At the end of the process, it is our view that the savings could have been better achieved by other means.
"Staff have still left — it’s just that they haven’t been made redundant.
"We understand the university’s budget is in a difficult position, but the school had good student numbers and a very high research profile — this was not the place to be making such changes."
He was also worried about future workload problems and wanted such processes to be treated more carefully.
"I was one of the staff who was ‘in scope’ and you certainly start thinking about your future quite deeply as a result. It’s not a fun time."
A proposal obtained by the Otago Daily Times showed the university wanted to make savings of about $1.8 million at the school by next year.
The report acknowledged such savings would lead to higher student-to-teacher ratios in many of the school’s departments.
Vice-chancellor Grant Robertson said the school had worked particularly hard to find savings and the decisions of some staff to take voluntary redundancy meant the goals of the process had been met.
"There is no point carrying the exercise on beyond what is absolutely necessary and therefore we have reduced the scope of those affected to give some certainty."
It comes as the university continues to make staff cuts in order to achieve "permanent and lasting savings" as lower-than-expected enrolments have led to higher-than-expected deficits.
Departments affected by last year’s restructuring processes included the schools of languages, science communication, peace and conflict studies, geology and computing.
More than 200 university staff lost their jobs in the process.
