University defends its council’s schedule after meetings cut back

THE University of Otago has defended last year’s pared back meeting schedule, which dropped by more than 30% before being ramped up again this year amid financial difficulties.

The cutback schedule was set to continue this year, but in March the university council decided to hold monthly meetings for the rest of the year.

A university spokesman said this did not mean the earlier move to reduce meetings was a mistake.

‘‘It is good governance and standard practice for organisations to regularly review their governance processes.’’

The university’s financial situation was a factor in the decision to increase the number of meetings scheduled this year from six to 10, the spokesman confirmed.

In April, the university announced it had a $60 million budget deficit and up to several hundred staff would be made redundant.

The change was also due to ‘‘a number of large projects on the go’’, including its longterm strategy, Vision 2040, and its university branding project.

In 2021, 10 council meetings were scheduled at the beginning of the year, and all ten took place.

In January 2022, 11 council meetings were listed in the university’s online schedule, but only seven took place — a reduction of 36%.

With a new chancellor and prochancellor, the council considered the way it carried out its role and the frequency of its meetings early last year, the spokesman said.

‘‘The proposal was that there would be eight meetings — six ‘standard’ meetings per year, one day for strategy and planning and a further day held in reserve — and the ability to add additional meetings as required.’’

Vicechancellor’s and finance reports would be provided to the council on the months where no meeting was held.

Each year the council would review the schedule and adjust it according to the decisions that needed to be made for that particular year.

There were also a number of council committees that met regularly during the year.

The reduction in meeting numbers was the result of last year’s review, but the schedule was reviewed again recently as a result of the number of large projects taking place.

The university website stated that scheduled meetings can be subject to change.