STUDENT support and care at Victoria University could be compromised following a decision to significantly increase student numbers, a teacher union has warned.

Following last year’s campus closures at Sunbury and Melton, Victoria University has increased students at the Footscray Park and St Albans campuses by 11 per cent, offering 5500 more first-round places this year.

National Tertiary Education Union industrial organiser Russel Baader said the heads of schools were saying “something else will have to go”.

“Academics will have less time to put into pastoral care of students, including consultation time and administration such as course preparation,” Mr Baader said.

The NTEU said the university had unfairly increased workloads outside of the 2009 Enterprise Agreement and the union had initiated dispute procedures against the university.

With more than 63 per cent of staff already working more than 41 hours a week, according to a recent survey by the National Tertiary Education Union, the union has warned that student support “will be compromised”.

“The university turned a blind eye to industrial negotiations … and made the changes on 12 January without consultation,” Mr Baader said.

He said if further negotiations were unsuccessful, the case would be taken to the national workplace relations tribunal. Friends of Victoria University spokesperson Paul Adams said that less attention was being paid to ensure students got what they needed.

“Students have been emailing in their concerns that academics are being spread too thin,” he said.

The university needs to work as a team player, Mr Adams said, instead of working to antagonise staff and students.

“VU management do not know how to sit down and work in a co-operative or positive way with their key stakeholders,” he said.

Pro vice-chancellor of Victoria University Dr Rob Brown said the student to staff ratio at VU was in line with national benchmarks for similar institutions.

“We do not believe this will lead to a decrease in the quality of the education that students receive,” Dr Brown said.