The institute announced on Friday it would cut jobs as part of restructure, but did not specify how many positions would go. 

On his first day as Minister for Skills and Training, Steve Herbert spoke with Bendigo TAFE chief executive Grant Sutherland to ask him to hold off on any redundancies until the new government had a chance to assess the situation.

Mr Herbert said he believed the Coalition held off on the restructure announcement until after the election to avoid negative press during the campaign. 

"It confirms our fears that the circumstances are much worse than what we were lead to believe," he said.

"The previous government allocated $60 million to this merger and from what we hear today that seems to have been ineffective." 

Mr Herbert said it was premature for the TAFE to go ahead and announce cuts before speaking with the new government, which had a mandate to save TAFEs across the state. 

"Bendigo TAFE suffered massively with previous government funding cuts.

"When the then government announced the merger with Kangan, assurances were given there wouldn't be down-sizing, there wouldn't be losses and that it would grow. That strategy has clearly failed."

Mr Herbert said Labor had an "absolute iron clad policy" to save the TAFE system across the state. 

He said he would meeting Bendigo Kangan TAFE executives next week. 

"I'm determined to grow courses and grow provision of TAFE in Bendigo.

"That's what we were elected to do and we will do it." 

A statement from Bendigo TAFE on Friday morning said: "The structure will incorporate existing and new roles as well as the discontinuation of some roles where duplication has been identified that will result in job losses." 

The statement said, following the merger of Bendigo and Kangan TAFEs in July this year, a "detailed review of internal business operations and the competitive landscape" was done to plan for the future.

The statement said staff were told in August they would be notified of their "job status" by the end of the year, and today's announcement was "in line with that commitment". 

Mr Sutherland said declining enrolments and loss of market share to its competitors put Bendigo Kangan TAFE in an unsustainable position. 

“In line with our approach of working closely with government we are very keen to meet as soon as possible with the new State Government to share our strategy and ensure that we work collaboratively to build a strong and viable BKI," Mr Sutherland said.

“We acknowledge that it is a difficult time to announce these changes and at the forefront of this process is the well-being of our staff. 

"Our focus now is to support our people through these changes and ensure that we continue to deliver quality education” he said.

“I want to confirm that we are not closing campuses, there will be very few course closures and the impact on our students will be minimal.

"With an expanded footprint that covers from Melbourne through to the North West of Victoria we are actively evaluating opportunities and assessing the feasibility of expanding course offerings."

"Part of this process includes a consultation process where staff will be invited to provide feedback on the structure," the statement said.

National Teachers Education Union Victorian secretary Colin Long said the union had heard up to 200 jobs could be cut. 

Mr Long said Bendigo Kangan TAFE should not rush into any cuts without first talking to the new Labor government. 

"The merger of the two TAFEs was all under the structural adjustment program that the coalition forced the TAFEs to go through," Mr Long said.

Mr Long said staff found the restructure confusing and felt they hadn't been adequately consulted on what it would look like.