A meeting is being held today in Balclutha about a proposal put forward by Lincoln University to axe up to 17 jobs at its Telford Campus.
Under the ``Refreshing Lincoln'' proposal aimed at reducing debt, Lincoln University unveiled plans this week to cut over 50 people's jobs from the university, including 17 at its Telford campus.
Tertiary Education Union national president Sandra Grey told the Otago Daily Times the jobs proposed to be cut were understood to be "surplus to requirement". They were not all the jobs on the campus.
The university was also negotiating to have Telford, which it took over five years ago, and its provisions transferred to another education provider.
Dr Grey said Lincoln University was refocusing itself on its degree-based programmes and was "working hard" to see if another provider wanted to take over what Telford provided as part of its overall restructure.
She said TEU was "absolutely determined'' to minimise job losses and ensure courses at Telford continued no matter who owned it.
"Not just because it is people's jobs . . . but also because cuts to jobs means cuts to courses and it means less for students."
She said Lincoln was looking to "pass on" Telford as it was only "relatively recent in institutional terms".
Lincoln University vice-chancellor Robin Pollard, who is at the meeting in Balclutha, said in a statement the university was obliged to return "financial sustainability".
Some of the initiatives proposed were foreshadowed earlier in the year under the "Refreshing Lincoln'' agenda.
``Over the past two months, the university decided to discontinue unpopular programmes and courses,'' Dr Pollard said.
This was reflected by some of the proposed job cuts at Telford, which would result in two courses being discontinued at the campus if the proposal went ahead.
Dr Grey said education was not a business and should not be treated as a marketplace.
The current government funding model was not working.
"It's kind of a one-size-fits-all . . . actually we might need to look at our funding model overall and say 'what is it that we need as a society'?"
Telford staff had four weeks to make submissions on the proposal and a decision will be made by Lincoln as to what happens in the future.
