University of Canterbury Staff Releases Morale Survey and Announces Campaign Against Redundancies

Media Conference
Thursday 2 March
1.30pm
Lecture Theatre A5

The Canterbury University Branch of the Association of University Staff will hold a media conference on Thursday (2 March) at 1.30pm.

Staff will publicly release the results of a survey of morale among academic staff at the university that was conducted at the end of last year.

AUS Canterbury Branch President, David Small, said the survey results reveal an alarmingly high sense of disaffection among the people who are employed to perform the core teaching and research functions of the university.

The AUS will also announce plans to resist the Vice-Chancellor’s plans to lay off staff in the College of Arts. Dr Small claims that the alleged crisis in the College of Arts has been artificially manufactured and points to figures released last week as proof that the university is in a healthy financial state, recording surpluses well above budget and at the upper end of government guidelines for universities.

He described the planned lay-offs in the Arts as “ill-considered, unnecessary and ad-hoc”, noting that they are being implemented in the absence of an academic strategic plan.

The full report on the staff morale survey can be downloaded here.