Science staff at Massey University facing the axe under a proposed restructure have put forward an alternative plan they believe will save jobs and courses and generate more money.

It’s believed up to 100 jobs could go under a Massey proposal for change that affects the college of sciences​.

The proposed changes include stopping all engineering courses and merging the school of natural sciences with the school of food and advanced technology.

On Tuesday, the Tertiary Education Union and a group of about 30 science staff members presented an alternative proposal to the college’s pro vice-chancellor, Professor Ray Geor.

They believed their proposal would retain programmes, achieve sustainability beyond 2025, and offer a financially viable path for the college.

In a statement, they said it would achieve “better overall financial performance through cost reductions in space use and consumables, consolidation into fewer academic management groups, increased practice in sharing resources across groups, and inclusion of 2023 staffing reductions”.

Consumables were things used in teaching, such as gloves, and the group said some of these were paid for by research grants, not the university.

The alternative proposal would achieve better financial outcomes without the need for more redundancies, they said. It would contribute $10.3 million a year to the university, compared with the Massey proposal’s contribution of $5.3m a year.

This was based on a financial model under which the college has to give a percentage of its income to the university’s central administration regardless of the number of students enrolled.

Professor Dianne Brunton, a behavioural ecologist, is one of the scientists in the group. She said their proposal didn’t require cutting any jobs or courses, and it could make $5.1m for the college of sciences.

The alternative proposal has been reviewed by an accountant.

One of the issues was Massey’s practice of charging colleges for useable floor area, which staff said was effectively a rent or tax. Because science subjects require large spaces such as laboratories, the college’s floor-area costs can be big.

Brunton said the staff proposal reduced the floor space they used as well as some other costs. This would require effort, she said, but it would mean staff and courses could remain.

Any unused floor space was unlikely to count against the college’s finances.

She said the university’s proposal hadn’t included in its numbers the staff members who had already taken voluntary redundancy. The alternative proposal had done this, which reduced costs, she said.

The alternative proposal also made recommendations about reviewing some of the floor-space charges.

In addition, the alternative proposal would save engineering, which was believed to be a profitable course and had a lot of PhD students.

Brunton said some engineering staff had left through voluntary redundancy and some courses may not be able to be taught, but those were details to be worked out if the alternative proposal was accepted.

The group was hopeful that Geor and the university’s senior leadership team would accept the proposal.

“I’m always optimistic,” Brunton said. “I hope they will listen. We haven’t attacked in any way.

“We have made suggestions and done the best we can with the data we’ve got.”

Geor said in a statement the university would consider the alternative proposal.

The timeline has been extended to consider the feedback from staff, students and the wider university community, he said.

“The need to reduce costs and generate income to ensure financial sustainability remains urgent for this year and for the near term (2024-2027).”

He said once a final decision had been made, the university would provide “clear details” to staff and students on any changes.

Another senior science staff member, who did not want to be named for fear of punishment, said the alternative proposal was based on a vision for the future of fundamental sciences at the university.

The staff member said there needed to be a change to Massey’s financial model. Now, a college has to pay a percentage of its income to the university’s central administration regardless of the number of students, instead of the previous model under which colleges made a contribution per student.

The staff member said the college of sciences was almost below critical mass now and things would deteriorate if another 80 to 100 people were made redundant.