The cause of the University of Otago’s budget woes and falling student numbers needs to be examined, writes David Richardson.
Much has been written recently in the Otago Daily Times and elsewhere following the shock announcement by the University of Otago of a large budget shortfall requiring significant redundancies to resolve.
Analysis provided by the university for this extraordinary situation is summarised as an unexpected drop in student numbers as a result of poorer UE performance last year, the impact of Covid and higher numbers entering the workforce directly from school. This revelation follows a further surprise from the university that last year, in these uncertain times, it had decided to run a budget deficit in 2023.
One can but presume that the significant reserves built up over previous years have been spent and that the Foundation Trust and other trust funds have produced a much lower return in the present economic climate.
While the university’s own analysis may in part be true, the loss of 200-odd students does not add up to a $60 million deficit, even if $12.4 million of that was a planned budget deficit. Considerable capital expenditure and overoptimistic expectations of enrolment growth have all contributed.
However, I think there is another underlying reason which has been overlooked or not stated, and that is looking at the history of what has happened inside the university over the last nine years.
I wonder why the University of Otago has lost the edge it once held in attracting students from the rest of the country? If there has been an enrolment drop across the country, how does that fit with the University of Canterbury achieving record enrolments in recent years?
I suggest there are clues to the University’s current budget problems. The University of Otago has for years attracted large numbers of students who have chosen to bypass their own local universities. The reasons for this and why it has changed need to be examined.
The student environment at Otago has long been touted as a key element in attracting young people.
What has changed? It seems to me that the last nine years have been a period of turmoil and change for staff with the introduction of a ‘‘shared services model’’, which caused much unhappiness and dissatisfaction among academic and professional staff. Staff morale plummeted as redundancies followed at an agonisingly slow pace, creating anxiety among staff uncertain of their future.
As a former staff member, I am saddened by the comments from many of my former colleagues who have been so negatively affected. The morale of both professional support and academic staff seemed equally affected by what, in this writer’s opinion, was a flawed model of shared services, poorly implemented and presumably introduced to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
What compounded the problem was the loss of experienced people, many in management roles, who were replaced by lower level individuals from administrative roles — many who may have been good administrators, but did not have the skills to be good managers of people.
Regrettably, in my experience, managers who were not people-focused often treated their staff as widgets, resorting to bullying in their inadequacy at developing and getting the best out of their staff for the outcomes required.
I suggest it has been this low level of staff morale that has affected both academic and professional staff in recent years, which has negatively affected student choice about coming to Otago. The university knows from its own research the positive impact its network of staff, students and alumni has been in attracting students. Has that advocacy enthusiasm dimmed?
This is not to say that the arguments put up by the university by way of explanation for this serious situation are incorrect but, in my view, they are incomplete.
It is the enthusiasm of the university’s staff and its students that can reverse this trend if they feel supported, valued and listened to.
— Former secondary school principal David Richardson was part of the University of Otago’s senior management operation group for 14 years before retiring in 2014.
