The University’s current financial health is looking about as healthy as a deep-fried Mars bar, and many will be wondering what exactly this means for students. In their communications about the projected slashes to staff numbers and papers, the Uni said that all students will “be able to complete their qualifications, whether they are undertaking undergraduate or postgraduate studies.” But what can you expect as an undergrad watching as niche papers with low enrolments are culled in this new Hunger Games of academia? Or a PhD student finding yourself suddenly with a new mentor? What if you’re one of those employees on the chopping block? Tag yourself in the following.
Freshers
As a fresher, you’ve only just dipped a toe in the water that is academia and it’s already feeling a little hot. At the beginning of your degree and already opportunities are falling before your eyes, there’s a lot to lose for y’all. Three first-year students voiced their frustrations to Critic Te Ārohi, with one saying, “We’ve had a few mates who have had to get their course changed already for next semester.” While it's likely the larger courses offered to first-year students will remain unaffected, smaller courses could be reduced significantly in scale and size, leaving students with fewer options to choose from. Doing HSFY and wanting to take a theology paper out of interest? Wanting to change your degree pathway after having a semester to figure things out? Unfortunately these may not be options with a deficit that could spell the end of several smaller subjects currently offered by the University. What it comes down to is this: first-year students are facing a university landscape which is completely in flux. Tread lightly, freshers.
Second-Year Breathas
Though it's likely that some of you second-year breathas are still building up the courage to haul ass to your first lecture of the year, you will still feel the consequences of the University's cuts. One thing to note are the potential job losses for students working in colleges or campus hospo outlets, though the university’s plan thus far has centred on full-time employment positions. For many second-year breathas struggling to pay the 200 dollars rent a week, part-time jobs at the University are a key form of income - particularly for those who have faced significant financial hardship in their lives. One breatha, Angus, works at one of the halls serving up food and beverage for the freshers who would otherwise struggle to feed themselves. “There’s a few of us who work at the colleges and I’m worried I’ll be one of the ones to go.”
Late-Stage Undergrads
If you’re a third- or fourth-year student coming to the end of your degree, you may be lucky enough to avoid the brunt of budget cuts. That is, unless you want to do a Master’s. Which a lot of people do. Anna, a third-year student studying Food Science, says her degree is being cancelled as the University is removing Bachelor of Applied Sciences as a subject. While she’ll be able to finish her undergraduate degree before the cuts are made, Anna “doesn’t feel ready to leave yet”, and wants to come back to Dunedin for another year to complete her Master’s degree. She wanted to study Food Science, however had to switch to Marketing. So if you’re coming to the end of your degree and don’t feel ready to face the real world, maybe check that your degree will still be around before signing up for another year in dirty Duds.
Tutors and Demonstrators
Among those employed by the Uni are student tutors and demonstrators. We spoke to Geography dem Rose* and Politics tutor Alice* to get a sense of how the Uni’s financial woes might impact their jobs. Neither had received any kind of correspondence from the Uni, with Alice commenting that she just hoped she wasn’t going to be “entering her redundancy era.” Ruby said that, though “they like to fuck with the little guy”, she expects that the cuts would mainly be targeting higher salary level staff with dems feeling the flow-on effects from that. On top of full-time study, Ruby said that most of the dems she knows of have other jobs as well. So hearing about the potential for class sizes to increase as papers are cut has caused a bit of concern among the cohort: “It is quite full-on demonstrating [already]... I think that could put quite a lot of extra workload onto an already busy schedule.” Not only would it cause demonstrators to be stretched more thinly between the students in the classes themselves, it would also mean more lab reports to mark - which can already take up to 12 hours for a set. So, while their pay wouldn’t necessarily go up, “the workload would increase by heaps.”
Humanities Postgrads
If you’re trying to build an academic career as a postgraduate, any cuts the Uni makes to your department could really throw a spanner in the works in terms of career development. Especially in the humanities, as Master’s student Aleisha* pointed out that cuts like these tend to target those departments over other degrees like Law, Commerce, and Science, “And so I’m pretty nervous that my departments are at risk.” Aleisha is studying towards her second Master’s degree, eventually setting her sights on getting a PhD and becoming a lecturer herself: “It’s the concern of like, if I don’t get this opportunity now at Otago in my field in my department with the lecturers that I love, then like when will I be able to get it? Because the big wide world is ten times more competitive.” Rattled over the possible implications impending cuts could have for her career in academia, Aleisha acknowledged that she’s in a privileged position compared to most, since she’s completed a postgraduate degree. “I just feel for everyone,” she said, “especially my lecturers because I just love them so much and respect them so much. I don’t want to see any of them lose their jobs, I think they’re all just such incremental people to the Uni. They’re amazing teachers, they’re amazing people.”
PhD Students
You’ve started a PhD with a specific supervisor, because they are the expert in this field. If they lose their job, what happens to your study? This isn’t unheard of - it happens all the time with illness or other reasons. But if you’ve just started, with the idea that this specific supervisor will be with you all the way, you might be in for some rough waters. “All students will be able to complete their qualifications” doesn’t necessarily mean “with supervisor continuity”, does it? If your supervisor does stay at Otago, depending on the department, they might find themselves swamped with the jobs left behind by redundant staff. It’s already stressful enough supervising a PhD student, but now they might have to juggle all those jobs on top of the extra work picked up by vacated positions. You’ll definitely finish - it just might not be exactly what you signed up for.
*Names changed.