James Cook University is cutting jobs to combat a serious drop in student enrolment.

James Cook University (JCU) is looking to cut about 130 jobs from its pool of 1,300 staff at its Townsville and Cairns campuses in response to  a 25 per cent reduction in domestic students in the past five years.

Vice Chancellor Simon Biggs says the job cuts would allow the university to claw back $11 million in salary costs annually.

“Simply put, our student load has been declining for some years and universities in Australia are paid according to the number of students they teach, but our staff load has not declined in the same period,” Professor Biggs said.

“Eventually your costs catch up with your revenue and at some point you run the risk of becoming unsustainable if you don't take action.”

The cuts will come from professional and technical staff, including those working in student administration, IT, finance and human resources.

“We're not reducing the capacity of our academic staff, so in terms of the availability of courses, programs, units for our students – that shouldn't change,” Professor Biggs said.

National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) representative Bronwen Forster says she fears students would indirectly suffer.

“A lot of the job losses are behind the scenes, but that will still impact students,” she told reporters. 

“It could impact on opening hours, it could impact on face-to-face services – students might be directed [online] rather than a real life person providing them assistance.

“We're already cut to the bone, so I think if there are further redundancies that will definitely reduce services to students in some form,” Ms Forster said.