AUT’s School of Hospitality and Tourism farewelled 18 members of its faculty at a function last week, with various faculty members believed to be working out their final tenure this month and next.
When asked for comment on the mass reduction in staffing Alison Sykora, Director of Communications for Auckland University of Technology said:
“The School is farewelling a number of staff who are leaving as a result of the AUT Financial Recovery Programme.
“To respect confidentiality we are not releasing names of the individuals.
“Programmes will not be impacted, though changes may be made to courses. Our focus is on supporting our staff and minimising any impact on students.”
This follows a September 7 announcement from AUT that said:
Auckland University of Technology has announced to staff that a post-COVID recovery programme could result in up to 230 job losses, however, Alison Sykora, AUT Director of Communications says all of the changes are proposed at the moment, and no decisions have been made.
“There are no changes proposed that relate specifically to the School of Hospitality and Tourism.”
The University currently has 4,354 staff including the equivalent of 2,178 full time permanent and fixed term employees.
Along with much of the tertiary sector, AUT has seen a significant drop in international students due to the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns, and border closures, alongside growing inflation, and economic pressures.
Domestic student enrolments are down in 2022 due to a buoyant employment market and the increasing number of school leavers needing to go into the workforce for economic reasons, says AUT.
“AUT’s fundamentals are sound but we have a responsibility to ensure we continue to meet the needs of our current and future students,” said Vice-Chancellor Damon Salesa.
The proposal is recommending a review of areas of non-core activity, and a review of administration and support operations to minimise duplication as well as the closure of a small number of declining programmes and courses.
Hospitality Business approached the Restaurant Association of New Zealand for comment on the staffing reduction situation, receiving the following response from Marisa Bidois, CEO.
“Unfortunately during the pandemic our overseas student numbers have been down and we are finding that there are fewer students overall enrolled in tourism and hospitality courses.
“Whilst we are very disappointed to see the AUT tourism and hospitality department downsizing at a time when we critically need more skilled workers, we recognise that more needs to be done to attract people to studying in the industry.”
Hospitality Business is also seeking confirmation on the status of the AUT CO-STARTERS: Hospo course highlighted in the November print edition.
