Staff at the University of Canberra (UC) have been asked to hand over up to $1,000 each year from their own salaries to "support students".

Key points: Vice-chancellor urges staff to support the university by "walking the walk"

Vice-chancellor urges staff to support the university by "walking the walk" Encourages giving via deductions from weekly pay cheques

Encourages giving via deductions from weekly pay cheques He pledges that "every single penny" will go to supporting students

UC vice-chancellor Deep Saini uploaded a public audio message to the university's website last week, asking staff to forgo a cup of coffee each day in exchange for a $20 donation to the university per week.

"I have a flat white sitting right on my desk here as I'm recording this and it costs me $4," he said in his fortnightly program Deep Thoughts.

"Let's say a cup of coffee costs us $4 each and we decide that we're going to give one cup of coffee per day to support our students … imagine the impact of that."

Donations deducted from pay cheques

Professor Saini suggested that if 1,000 staff gave $20 per week, the university would collect $1,040,000 each year, which could create 208 scholarships of $5,000.

He also noted that donations would be tax deductable.

The money staff have been asked to donate would reportedly go towards student scholarships. ( ABC News: Nick Haggarty )

"There are ways for our staff to contribute financially to the university," he said.

"Payroll giving is the easiest way to do it, where you just simply have deductions from your biweekly pay cheque.

"I know that some of you would give higher amounts, some of you may choose to give a lower amount. It's the average that counts."

'All boats will rise'

Using a boat analogy, Professor Saini pointed to fundraising efforts by universities around the world, including the Australian National University, the University of Melbourne, and the University of Sydney, which surpassed $1 billion in donations.

"There's a tide coming and with that, all boats will rise. And as will University of Canberra's boat," he said

"We have been in the space of fundraising for the university for several years, so it is not new to us.

"But what we are preparing to do now is to step up to the next level and be ready for this tide that is coming with which all boats will rise."

Mr Saini suggests the donation can be as little as the cost of a cup of coffee. ( ABC Wide Bay: Sarah Jane Bell )

The call was part of an upcoming "formal campaign for the University of Canberra".

"I have always believed that before you ask anybody to support a cause, you have to support it yourself," Professor Saini said.

"Before you ask somebody else to give money to a cause in the university, you have to commit yourself to a cause in the university.

"Imagine the moral strength that would give us all to go out and ask the community for support.

"We would be a university that is seen by a community to be walking the walk and not just simply talking the talk."

University defends 'giving appeal'

The university defended Mr Saini's appeal to staff, and said the UC's workplace giving appeal had been established for several years.

"The Workplace Giving appeal is completely voluntary and directly benefits those disadvantaged students that are most in need of help in accessing a university education,' acting vice-chancellor Leigh Sullivan said.

"The funds raised through this appeal can either go to the UC Foundation Scholarships to support Indigenous, refugees, rural [or] regional students and students with a disability, or the UC Textbook fund."

Mr Sullivan said money could also be put towards the UC Foundation Endowment, which creates permanent income for scholarships and research.

On the Deep Thoughts program, Mr Saini pledged that "every single penny" would go to supporting students.

"Being a student-centric university is a core pillar of our distinctive by design strategic plan," he said.

"We are all invested in that."

Professor Saini's message comes as the university and staff have been locked in enterprise bargaining negotiations, with tensions escalating last year when union members voted to strike for the first time in a decade.

Australia's public university vice-chancellors earnt $890,000 per year on average in 2016.

'They are already bleeding us dry'

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) reached out to members at the University of Canberra, seeking their thoughts on the suggestion.

In anonymous responses to the NTEU, many staff expressed a sense of dismay at the idea.

"Given the amount of time which I have donated to the university (marking/emails on weekends/public holidays/annual leave) my answer is and will remain no," one said.

"Given the lack of a pay rise in the recent negotiations, it is a bit tone deaf to 'socialise' this idea in his communication with the staff.

"This one really makes me cranky."

Another accused the university of playing with the emotions of staff, to try and solicit money from them.

"It breaks my heart when the university asks this because I care so deeply about students and I want to support them and for them to succeed, and I really want access to higher education to be increased across the board," they said.

"But I feel like the university is simply exploiting these emotions in me as a teacher when it asks things like this.

"It makes me feel very undervalued and depressed when the uni, yet again, asks for even more when they are already bleeding us dry with excessive workloads, lack of pay increases, and complete disregard for the wellbeing of the very staff members who are needed in order to actually achieve quality teaching for students."