New Zealand’s universities are in crisis. AUT announced 170 academic redundancies last year. Massey is planning to cut a net 36 academic roles. Otago is looking to shed ‘several hundred’ positions, while Victoria University of Wellington plans to cut some 100 academic and 150 professional staff.

The leaders of these universities now need to make some very tough decisions about where, precisely, the cuts will fall. They will want to be working with the most up-to-date and accurate information about their own staffing numbers. But are they?

It is our understanding from a member of Victoria’s academic staff that Vice-Chancellor Nic Smith may be working with figures that have academic employees outnumbering non-academics at Vic.

If so, we feel it is vital to point out, at this critical juncture, that those figures are inaccurate.