Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union is outraged by a newly released TEC report (dated 28 July 2023) that signals $52m in new funding cuts for tertiary institutions that are already shutting down courses and making staff redundant due to funding shortfalls.
TEU’s branch president at one of the impacted universities, Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington, Dougal McNeill says “we are shocked to learn that barely a month after the government announced $128m in additional funding that was supposed to save courses and jobs, the TEC has seen fit to claw much of it back from the institutions that needed it most.”
“The TEC should be an advocate for and a champion of the tertiary education sector, but instead all they seem to do is force institutions to cut jobs and provision.”
In response to the report, TEU members from Victoria University of Wellington and Students Against Cuts will picket the TEC’s Wellington headquarters, at 44 The Terrace, at 8:15am tomorrow morning.
Dougal McNeill says “if the TEC is so keen to see tertiary education providers cut staff, and cut courses, then they should see the faces of the people impacted by their choices. I’ll be there to remind them of the mess they’ll leave if we’re cut away.”