TWENTY-eight University of the South Pacific staff will lose their jobs with the USP's decision to outsource dining hall functions.
The USP Council has decided to lay off staff by mid next month staff in order to stop incurring losses in the dining hall, which came about after the council handed living allowances to student.
This decision was moved by the Cooks Island Ministry of Education.
The USP Staff Union said the decision to outsource was unfair and contrary to an agreement made on good terms to work together and come with a plan to turn losses into profit.
USP Permanent Hourly Paid and Intermediate and Junior Staff Union spokesman Noel Tofinga said the union was still working on how to make profits when the USP decided on redundancies.
"All stakeholders, including the USP Students Association, have agreed to revert to the old system where the meal plan generally involves the depositing of the on-campus student's meal allowance directly to the USP from their respective sponsors," said Mr Tofinga.
He said the new system would be more flexible and student friendly.
The union said if the old system was brought back the dining hall would make an estimated $70,000 profit annually instead of the $400,000 loss.
Academics claim the decision to hand meal money to students had resulted in them spending on things other than food.
A Tongan lecturer who stays on campus has had to feed some Tongan students.
In an email to Vice Chancellor Rajesh Chandra, an academic, who did not want to be named, said students mismanaged their living allowance.
"I have observed this in the number of drunkard students on Nailuva Road and in flats along the road. It appears to me that these students are in poor nutrition not doing well academically. Not too long ago more than 100 students were sent home for unsatisfactory progress in their studies," he wrote in his email.
