Cash-strapped NZ university plans to open campus in Singapore, sparking anger among staff

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WELLINGTON – Cash-strapped Massey University, which is cutting jobs and programmes in New Zealand, is planning to open a campus in Singapore in a bid to find new streams of revenue.

The move to expand overseas while trimming jobs at home, however, has sparked anger among its staff.

Massey – one of New Zealand’s largest public universities – announced in August a joint venture with “an educational investor with facilities” in Singapore. It declined to reveal the name of the co-investor.

It expects the first intake of students to begin classes in 2024, with an “ambitious target of having 5,000 students based offshore by 2026”. The 5,000 target would include students based in Singapore, as well as those enrolled in partner universities in neighbouring countries such as China and Vietnam, a university spokesman told The Straits Times.

The range of programmes to be offered is still being finalised, she said. While the selection will be drawn from Massey’s current programmes, they will not duplicate what is already available in Singapore.

The university currently offers an honours degree in food technology with the Singapore Institute of Technology and a master of analytics through PSB Academy. Both courses attract over 300 students. Massey has an additional 2,000 students studying through its partners in other countries.

While it is not going to “build a physical campus” in Singapore, Massey has described the size and scale of the joint venture as unprecedented for a university in New Zealand.

It will allow its international students the option to study the same programmes closer to home. New Zealand students will also get an opportunity to do part of their degree in Singapore. 

The project has been in the works for over a year. Massey’s vice-chancellor, Professor Jan Thomas, said she sees Singapore as an important established market for expansion into South-east Asia and beyond.

“Sharing our expertise and creating new and diverse revenue streams is a priority for Massey,” she said.

Afflicted by falling domestic enrolment due to high employment, Massey recorded a NZ$8.8 million (S$7.1 million) deficit in 2022. It is a crisis that many of New Zealand’s universities find themselves facing. Six of the country’s eight universities are in financial distress. 

To bring the university to financial sustainability, Massey had called for voluntary redundancies from its academic and professional staff from July in an attempt to cut costs.

According to New Zealand’s Tertiary Education Union, the proposed job cuts totalled 245, affecting its College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Creative Arts, College of Sciences, College of Health, the Business School and the library.

An online petition was started on Change.org on July 24 to save its bachelor of speech and language therapy programme from being axed and has since gathered more than 5,560 signatures.

Massey would not reveal how many have applied for “voluntary enhanced cessation”, except that the process is still ongoing and there has been interest from some staff members.

Nonetheless, the university’s plans to expand overseas while cutting jobs at home has angered its staff and students. This is despite the university reiterating that funds from New Zealand would not be used for the Singapore campus.

The money is coming from Massey Global, a subsidiary of Massey University. Massey declined to reveal the size of its investment, as well as projections of when it would achieve break even, citing commercial sensitivity.

“Our plans will be to invest funds held by Massey Global Ltd in Singapore, ensuring there is no impact on funds held in New Zealand,” said Dr Tere McGonagle-Daly, deputy vice-chancellor, students and global engagement.

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