Otago University chief financial officer Brian Trott said since 2023, the university has achieved close to $45m in savings and "we will continue to embed a culture of cost control across the university again this year".
The university’s quest to find $16m in savings this year comes not long after the mass staff cuts of 2022-23, when the university first discovered the massive "hole" of about $60m in the budget that required major staff cuts to stay afloat.
Mr Trott said changes to staff "will be worked through at divisional level".
All departments had to find savings, Mr Trott said.
"Savings targets have been set for all divisions and therefore changes are possible across different areas."
Other approaches to saving money included asset sales, programme and course consolidation and streamlining and more efficient use of the property portfolio, including releasing or repurposing space where appropriate.
Vice-chancellor Grant Robertson had made staff aware of possible upcoming changes, Mr Trott said.
Tertiary Education Union president Prof Craig Marshall, of the University of Otago, said there appeared to be less of a focus on staff cuts from the university, and more on finding other ways to save.
"When those cuts were made a couple of years ago, they didn’t cut the workloads accordingly, so everyone was forced to do more with less.
"Now in theory that’s achievable, in practice, it’s not so straightforward and it led to many overburdened and stressed staff."
Prof Marshall said much of the drive towards surplus was due to the Tertiary Education Commission’s demands.
"The TEC controls the purse strings for universities, so for all intents and purposes they have the universities over a barrel."
As at the end of 2024, the university had 1593 academic staff and 2420 professional staff.
Prof Marshall said he would like to see a "coherent future plan" for the tertiary education sector.
"It could come from the government, or from parties who wish to be the government — it doesn’t matter who, someone needs to break this deadlock.
"Right now, university funding has not kept pace with inflation, and this leads to all sorts of difficulties.
"So we’re in a situation where outcomes might be either ‘bad’ or ‘less bad’. Until we see a change in funding and development for universities, I can’t be too optimistic."
Mr Trott said the university was required by the Tertiary Education Commission to return to surplus, and they were on track to achieve this.
"Our focus is on balancing the need to return to surplus with the need to continue investing in the world-class research, teaching and student experience that are hallmarks of the University of Otago. We are following a steady and deliberate path that supports both financial sustainability and strategic investment."
