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Vice Chancellor of the ANU Professor Ian Young. Photo: Jay Cronan

Australian National University vice-chancellor Ian Young has told students he had no idea tutorials were under threat at the College of Arts and Social Sciences - only hearing about it when contacted by the media for comment after students expressed outrage at the plans.

Students within the college were informed two weeks ago that an executive decision had been made to phase out tutorials in favour of large interactive workshops and forums.

CASS associate dean Royston Gustavson wrote to students saying the forum model ''reconfigures current contact hours in a way that is intended to have a positive educational impact''.

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

The decision triggered widespread opposition from undergraduates, postgraduates and the National Tertiary Education Union. Last week, Professor Young instigated a formal review into the changes, saying ''I understand the proposed changes within CASS would represent a significant change from the traditional approach, and as such need to be carefully considered''.

He held a forum with a small group of postgraduate students on Friday where he told them that he had only learnt of the changes the day after students were told.

But National Tertiary Education Union ACT division secretary Stephen Darwin said the union believed Professor Young had been warned about the tutorial cuts a month earlier when he issued a draft budget for the college. That budget did not provide sufficient funding to cover the cost of tutorials in 2014.

''The vice-chancellor knew, and indeed was warned, the college was operating without any budget for tutorials. But instead, the college is being left to carry the can,'' Mr Darwin said.

A spokeswoman for Professor Young said the university had just begun the process of developing the 2014 budgets - a process that involved ''modelling different scenarios. The budgets won't be finalised until November this year. Anything before then is not a budget.''

Mr Darwin said: ''It really defies belief that the vice-chancellor was only made aware of this the day after students and if he is not aware of key educational decisions being made by his largest college, it raises serious questions about how much he really knows about what is going on at his university.''

The spokeswoman said ''the proposal to change the approach to lectures and tutorials in the College of Arts and Social Sciences was a preliminary one, made without reference to the executive or the university's academic board''.

''Professor Young heard the voices of the students and tutors, and asked deputy vice-chancellor (academic) Marnie Hughes-Warrington to review the decision by the college.'' The review panel will include ANU

Students Association president Aleks Sladojevic and Professor Krishna Sen, dean of arts at the University of Western Australia.

Mr Darwin said the review had been hastily announced because of the embarrassment caused to ANU management over student outrage.

More than 230 signatures have been added to a petition calling for tutorials to be restored and the ANU Education Action Group will hold a rally on campus on Thursday.

Postgraduate climate change policy and economics student Tom Swann was at the forum when Professor Young spoke to students.

''I'd like to believe he's not lying. But even taking it at face value, there are serious questions about trust, competence and accountability. How can he be so confident about his sweeping reforms if he doesn't know what's going on?'' Mr Swann said.

He said one of the reasons he had chosen to study at the ANU was its strong record on supporting tutorials and small tutorial sizes, which were ''absolutely vital for helping students develop critical thinking skills''.

Professor Young is planning to meet with undergraduate students in a similar forum this week.