By John Gerritsen for RNZNearly 700 university staff are losing or leaving their jobs because of a financial hole left by falling foreign enrolments. Smith said the fact domestic enrolments could not fill the gap left by foreign students showed that government funding for domestic students was inadequate. He said universities could end up with as little as one-third of their usual number of foreign students this year. At the University of Auckland, 300 people have signed up for a voluntary leaving package. University job losses (includes voluntary leaving, voluntary redundancy and forced redundancy)• University of Auckland - 300• AUT - 71• University of Waikato - 25 with eight more under consideration• Massey University - 74• Victoria University of Wellington - 100 expressions of interest in voluntary redundancy• University of Canterbury - more than 40• Lincoln University - 72• University of Otago - 0

Source: New Zealand Herald February 28, 2021 21:08 UTC