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Academics are calling on the government to increase funding for universities as they face layoffs and pay cuts due to the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 300 employees, including PhD candidates, senior lecturers, and research directors, from New Zealand’s eight universities have signed an open letter to Education Minister Chris Hipkins, calling for more financial support and better working conditions.
The letter, endorsed by the newly formed Aotearoa Tertiary Education Action Group (TEAGA), raises concerns about the loss of jobs in the sector and the effect it could have on staff, students and the quality of the research carried out in the universities.
“In the long term, after the pandemic, we also call for the rights of precarious workers to be strengthened to provide greater job security, a fairer wage, more equitable labor relations and a reasonable path for those seeking meaningful employment to full time”. said.
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The call for more support comes as universities consider how to recoup large losses from a drop in international student enrollment due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
Vice Chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington, Grant Guilford, told the Government’s Epidemic Response Committee that the sector was expected to experience a collective loss of $ 397 million in 2021.
Only his institution projected a deficit of $ 30 to $ 40 million and had confirmed that he was considering the loss of jobs and the reduction of staff hours.
The-Dominion-Post
Academics are asking Education Minister Chris Hipkins to come to their aid as job loss approaches.
TEAGA organizer and spokesman Luke Oldfield said universities needed more specific support than had been provided through the government’s wage subsidy scheme to address the “tsunami” of job losses “in the industry.
Academics employed in casual and fixed-term contracts would likely be the hardest hit, he said.
The group was calling for warnings to be included in any future support package to ensure that those working in the most precarious jobs are protected against cuts to expected employment contracts.
Oldfield said that the measures of the universities to reduce their academic workforce would be “myopic”, which would lead to lower and lower quality research, which in turn would lead to university classifications and, therefore, the enrollment of international students, go down.
“If there is no immediate or almost immediate remedy, it will take much longer for the industry to recover.”
The Tertiary Education Union (TEU) is encouraging its members to sign the open letter.
“We have a big problem with fixed-term employment in the tertiary sector,” said TEU National President Michael Gilchrist.
“We have been campaigning for a long time with an increasing level of resources and efforts to try to reduce the level of informal and fixed-term employment in universities.”
Universities New Zealand Chief Executive Chris Whelan said he was talking to the government about how the university sector could be better supported through the fall of the pandemic.
“It is too early to know what universities will or will not have to do to cope with the forecast of major losses for the next two years, but we know that university teaching and research will play a major role in New Zealand after Covid-19 recovery , and we need to keep as many of us as we can for that time. “
Things He has contacted the Hipkins office for comment.
