Association of University Staff
30 October 2006
Warning of further redundancies at University of Auckland
There could be further redundancies among academic staff at the University of Auckland if the School of Biological
Sciences' risky venture to build a new biotech centre falls below budget targets. Members of the Association of
University Staff (AUS) at the school are watching what is happening in the Business, Education and Arts Faculties and
are worried that they could lose their jobs.
The Dean of Science has said that the possibility of redundancies among academic staff cannot be ruled out in the event
that plans to make money from partnerships with pharmaceutical and agribusiness concerns fail.
The University's Budget Committee meets on Tuesday to approve building the multi-million dollar Institute for Innovation
in Biotechnology that will be attached to the School of Biological Sciences.
“The University is using completely the wrong model for partnership with biotechnology business interests,” said
Associate-Professor Peter Wills, AUS Auckland Branch spokesperson. “There should be an absolute firewall between the
academic and business sides of operations such as this. Instead, they talk of a seamless connection with biotechnology
companies, they distort the balance of academic programmes and then they raise the possibility of redundancies among
academic staff. We are all sympathetic to the University’s need to develop new sources of revenue, but academic autonomy
and integrity cannot be put at risk.”
“The plan to graft a large business enterprise onto the School of Biological Sciences was not discussed by the school's
external Advisory Board. Everything is secret, supposedly on the grounds of commercial sensitivity, but the conflict of
interest issues are enormous.
Academic staff do not get to look properly into the plan unless they sign up for it even though Vote Education funds are
being diverted away from their fields,” said Associate Professor Wills. “Overseas visitors look in amazement at the
failure of the University to protect academic interests as it pursues money making. What is being done here would simply
not be allowed in countries such as the United States.”
Associate-Professor Wills said the plans should be put on hold until the University could guarantee the integrity of
academic programmes and security of tenure for academic staff.
ENDS