If you were on campus last Monday, chances are you tripped over a highschooler gawking at a map of the Uni with their mum. Critic Te Ārohi took the opportunity to ambush prospective students (prospies) to see if the incoming staff cuts had influenced their uni decisions.
While most youngsters hadn’t heard the news, the few that had were concerned. One mentioned that a couple friends of hers who were interested in studying humanities had reconsidered enrolling at Otago after hearing the news. And we alarmed one pre-breatha planning on studying Law and Chinese by telling him that languages and cultures had already been subjected to cuts, with German as the most recent casualty due to low enrolments. Exchanging glances, he and his mum said that the news would definitely impact their decision on whether or not to enrol at Otago. Whoops.
We continued to peruse stalls in the Link spreading the good news. The humanities end was much quieter than the sciences on the opposite side, and the English and Linguistics table was completely barren when we dropped by. Surely we just caught them at a bad time. The prospies we bothered at the science end generally were unbothered by the news, many hearing it for the first time. Those we spoke to were keen on oral health, SPEX and HSFY - still with life in their eyes, we noted. And fair enough that they weren’t that concerned upon learning about the Uni’s budgeting issues since the humanities have historically borne the brunt of budget cuts.
The main concern for these students was that Arana College, a fave among health science freshers, isn’t taking applications for 2024 as it is set to undergo earthquake strengthening upgrades. They were originally planned to happen later this year, with current residents set to migrate to the new hall Te Rangihīroa around the corner, but (even more) financial woes have delayed the hall’s construction by six months.
We bumped into one mum, Leanne, who went to Otago Uni in the 90s and was part of the 1993 student fees protest that saw students clashing with police in riot gear at the Uni Registry building. Leanne informed a surprised Critic that there used to be a Russian department at the Uni, and that the humanities department has been slowly chipped away at since neoliberal reforms of the 80s which pushed universities across Aotearoa to “run as a business.” Her daughter, however, didn’t think it affected her.
These prospies are an important group. The University has cited declining domestic enrolment rates as a key factor in their budget crisis, a combination of lower NCEA pass rates and a lower-than-anticipated interest in attending university nationwide. Their decision to attend Otago or go elsewhere will be hotly anticipated by the Clocktower.