Hundreds of staff are facing redundancy after the Auckland University of Technology revealed cutbacks to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.
AUT said as part of a post-COVID recovery programme up to 230 of the University's 4354 staff could lose their jobs.
It comes as the University struggles with a "significant" drop in international students and lower domestic enrollments this year - fuelled partly by a tight labour market and economic challenges from COVID-19.
The University is proposing a review of "non-core activity" and "administration and support operations to minimise duplication as well as the closure of a small number of declining programmes and courses".
Vice-chancellor Damon Salesa said it will have minimal impact on students who will be made aware of any changes by the end of November.
"AUT's fundamentals are sound but we have a responsibility to ensure we continue to meet the needs of our current and future students," Salesa said on Monday.
"AUT is unique - we offer excellence and opportunity to people from all walks of life. Our students and our research contribution are at the centre of what we do, and the proposals are to ensure our future sustainability so we can deliver what our students, our city, and our country need."
He said the proposal is the first of its kind in the University's 22-year history and comes after AUT kept its staff on during the peak of the COVID pandemic.
"This is a difficult time for AUT, and we are focusing on caring for and consulting with our staff so that our way forward is the right one," Salesa said.
It comes after Immigration New Zealand revealed there were just 14,639 international students with valid study visas in the country when the border fully reopened on July 31 - a shockingly small number when compared to the 60,000 who had them when the pandemic began in March 2020.
And fewer students means less money with international students paying just $594 million in fees in 2021 compared to $963 million in 2020 and $1.2 billion in 2019.
This year's fees are expected to be even lower than last as international student numbers continue to dwindle.
