Students and staff of Waikato University are rallying in black today to protest more than 20 job cuts at the tertiary institute.

The university wants to cut these people from the education faculty, whose jobs range from working with school leavers or helping new teachers learn the skills to be able to educate children.

Nanette Cormack, Deputy Secretary for the Tertiary Education Union, believes the university is trying to make way for a private company to do the roles because they believe it would attract more students.

The rally begins at 1pm on the University of Waikato Village Green, and Cormack is hoping hundreds will turn up in black.

"There's a very, very strong outpouring of support for us from all of the rest of the staff and the university and from many of the students," she said.

"These jobs are important to Hamilton itself in terms of the economy, but also important to the young people who live and want to study in Hamilton."