Meanwhile, an internal review of plans by the College of Arts and Social Sciences to replace tutorials with large forums has blamed a breakdown of communication for widespread student distress.

Deputy vice-chancellor (academic) Marnie Hughes-Warrington said there was no evidence that the college had intended to abolish tutorials altogether, or compel staff to adopt forum-style teaching, ''but we did find a case of grassroots innovation and an issue being lost in translation''.

Professor Hughes-Warrington, who led the review, said the move to forums had been confused with wider budget cuts taking place across the university.

''Unfortunately, the issue came to the fore while the university was also dealing with a difficult budget challenge as a result of large funding cuts by the former federal government,'' she said. ''These issues appear to have become conflated.''

Hundreds of undergraduate and postgraduate students expressed their outrage last month when they were informed in an email from CASS associate dean Royston Gustavson that the forum model was being adopted and that it would ''reconfigure current contact hours in a way that is intended to have a positive educational impact''.

He noted ''for courses that continue to use tutorials, funding constraints may see tutorial sizes increase from 15 to 20 students''.

Several senior academics and vice-chancellor Ian Young were unaware of the proposed changes, with Professor Young starting the review as a matter of urgency.

Professor Hughes-Warrington made four recommendations identifying the need for the college to improve internal communication and reduce red tape related to education.

''The panel recommends that the CASS dean and CASS executive take urgent steps to review and renew communication within the college,'' she said. ''The review should incorporate the advice of staff and students and be evaluated after a period of no more than 12 months.''

She said approval had been given for 12 courses to move to forums - on top of nine already adopted - and did not rule out further ''education innovation''.

But the National Tertiary Education Union said the review amounted to little more than a whitewash and, within its 50 pages, did not address the root cause of the problem - the fact that the college will lose $1.4 million next year from budget cuts and does not have the funding to run tutorials.

ACT division secretary Stephen Darwin said: ''There is little problem with what the college communicated to students. It was simply communicating the likely realities faced by the college with severe budget cuts in 2014.''

Mr Darwin was pleased, however, to be back at the negotiating table with management over a pay deal for staff after the union was given the right to take protected action this week by Fair Work Australia.

The ANU Education Action Group, which organised protests and a petition to management in support of tutorials, said the review had been a complete waste of time.