Victoria University to slash 300 jobs

Victoria University will shed 300 jobs as part of what it says is a bid to make the university sustainable in a competitive market.

About 200 of the positions to go will be professional staff and the remainder will be academic.

The university said it needed to find $40 million-$50 million in recurrent savings by 2016, at which point it hopes to support the same number of students with 300 fewer staff members.

The changes were necessary to put Victoria University in a better position for the new competitive tertiary market place, the university said in a statement on Wednesday.

"At Victoria University, like a number of other universities, without decisive action to streamline our operations and cut costs, our cost pressures will race ahead of revenue growth," Victoria University Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Dawkins said.

He said the aim was to ensure a sustainable future through a simpler agenda, streamlined operations, less red tape, fewer staff members and improvements to the student experience.

Savings were also needed for ongoing reinvestment necessary for the university to execute its plan, Prof Dawkins said.

As part of its strategy, Victoria University is positioning itself as Australia's sport university.

It already has the largest number of students enrolled in sports-related higher education courses in Australia.