Te Tira Ahu Pae statement on the proposed changes to the College of Creative Arts

Massey University have been discussing a proposal to restructure the College of Creative Arts’ technician services. The proposed change would see 25 technician roles disestablished to make way for six new roles. These roles would sit under a new structure, where technician services are combined under one centralised "tech hub" entity. These technical staff would be available to students across multiple disciplines, rather than being independent to one subject area. The proposal also aims to increase commercial use of CoCA’s technical staff, equipment and space by external parties.

We are concerned that this proposed restructure will not fix the ongoing problems with our understaffed tech and could spread the current staff even thinner. If technical staff, equipment and spaces are being more frequently rented out to external parties, we worry that students may lose access to these resources when they need them. We are also concerned that by centralising these roles, specific knowledge which is niche to each different subject area may be lost.

Te Tira Ahu Pae are calling for Massey University to provide more transparency around these proposed changes, and to increase consultation so that students may have a real say in decisions that impact their quality of education.

We are actively working to organise a kōrero with a Massey University representative who can speak directly to students and answer questions about the proposal, so that students will be better informed about the proposed changes and how it may impact them.