The Otago Daily Times revealed management had held tense and occasionally tearful meetings with staff about the planned restructuring, but the institution did not reveal the extent of the cuts until yesterday.
Documents seen by the ODT suggest up to 21 fulltime equivalent positions would be cut. A further 10 fulltime equivalent positions were under review.
The changes affect a large cross-section of administrative and general staff. It includes administration within colleges, the open education research centre and the research and postgraduate team.
Otago Polytechnic executive director Dr Megan Potiki said it was part of the polytechnic’s "road map to viability", which targeted wiping out a $10 million deficit by the end of the year. In 2025 there is forecast to be a deficit of $6.8m.
She said the changes would have occurred even without the current political situation around polytechnics.
"It’s actually a plan for us to get ourselves standing back up. But this is probably the really big, significant change, I would say."
Last week, Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds placed Otago Polytechnic in a federation with the Open Polytechnic and Universal College of Learning.
But Dr Potiki said this restructure — and the restructure of management — would have needed to happen anyway.
"This is our commitment to getting back in the black.
"As we get our autonomy, we expect to actually be looking at all of our departments continuously to say, are we actually operating in the right way?
"Crucially, we are not proposing to discontinue any current programmes at Otago Polytechnic through these proposals, and any staffing changes would take effect after the end of the 2025 academic year, reducing any disruption for ākonga."
Dr Potiki acknowledged the restructuring would be very difficult for staff, who had been through several during the formation and break-up of Te Pukenga.
"Regardless of what status happens with the federation, or whether we’re standalone, we expect to be able to deliver exceptional learning outcomes.
"I want to be really clear that we will still do a great job for our learners."
However, Tertiary Education Union general secretary Daniel Benson-Guiu questioned Otago Polytechnic’s strategy.
"You can’t cut your way back to prosperity.
"These are by far and away the most significant cuts in a while.
"The Otago Polytechnic have made their choice — and their choice is to cut and distance themselves from the community."
Otago Polytechnic is not the only tertiary institution that is facing significant cuts to staff.
A recently-released Cabinet paper revealed that re-establishing independent polytechnics will cost more than 500 courses and about 1000 jobs nationwide.
