It's part of a new pilot that the university is set to expand next year to overcome poor retention rates and financial instability.

But the Australian Education Union and National Tertiary Education Union have serious concerns about the initiative, which involves the university receiving federal and state government funding for the same students at the same time.

"It's double-dipping," the AEU Victorian branch's vice-president for TAFE, Greg Barclay, said.

"This is a very unusual arrangement."

He said it made no sense to enrol university students in a certificate IV in tertiary preparation, which helps students develop study skills so they can then access university. He said it was impossible for students to meet the objectives of the certificate if they were already enrolled in tertiary education.

"We believe the university is trying to find another way to pay for providing academic support to support students in the higher education space because they have moved to a model where they don't use ATARs," he said.

But a Victoria University spokeswoman denied claims that the university was double-dipping. She said the certificate, which is funded by the state government, was offered at no extra cost to the student.

She did not say how much state government funding the university received by offering the certificate.

Around 140 students are enrolled in the pilot, which is set to be expanded next year in a new standalone college for first year students.

The Australian-first initiative is designed to improve students' university experience and reverse poor retention rates.

"Many VU students find the transition from high-school to university a challenging one," a university spokeswoman said.

"This pilot is designed to make this transition as smooth as possible."

The university announced last month that it would axe 115 jobs after being in the red for four of the past five years.

A leaked document obtained by The Age revealed that the financial viability of the western suburbs university was "at risk".

It said the introduction of the demand-driven system had led to around 60 per cent of students at the university receiving ATARs below 50, or being less prepared for higher education.

A teacher at the dual-sector university, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the changes would lead to more work for students.

"We are taking people with lower and lower entry standards who are underprepared, they will now have to do additional units," he said. "They will have to do two things at the same time."

He said some students involved in the pilot were unaware that they were enrolled in a TAFE certificate and a degree at the same time.

But the university says students involved in the pilot program attended an information session before giving consent.

National Tertiary Education Union Victoria University branch president Paul Adams said he was concerned about experienced staff losing their jobs, and being replaced by more junior teaching staff at the first years college.

"It's a McDonalds approach to education," he said. "It is about cheapening the cost of labour by hiring more junior staff."

He said that the approach would not be particularly attractive to aspirational students who are ready for university.

A state government spokesman said that it supported courses that provided extra support to students to undertake training and higher education.

A federal education department spokesman said that from a funding perspective, there was nothing to prevent Victoria University offering an additional qualification concurrently with the first year of a bachelor degree course.

But he said that universities needed to ensure students had the academic preparation and English proficiency needed to participate in their intended area of study.

Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency chief executive officer Anthony McClaran said he was in discussions with Victoria University during this "period of change".

Victoria University Student Association president Jillian Horman said students were seeking more information about the changes and had organised a symposium with university management later this month.

"There will be significant impacts on both staff and consequently students."