Almost one in 10 degree places are to be slashed by Ulster University - but it is ploughing ahead with a £250 million building project.
The university said higher education budget reductions was forcing it to shed up to 1,200 student places, while 210 staff will also go.
Announcing the consequences of its "dire" financial position, it accused the Executive of "robbing" young people of opportunities to enter higher education.
The four-campus university has had its annual recurrent budget cut from £89m in the 2010/11 academic year and about £75m last year to a projected £70.7m for this coming year.
The 2015/16 allocation was presented yesterday as a best case scenario, based on an overall Stormont spending plan that has not yet accounted for a £600m black hole in the Executive's finances.
UU already announced it was cutting 250 students this September. It has 27,000 students of which 13,000 are full-time undergraduates. The latest 1,200 cut will be to this group.
It hopes that it can achieve the 210 job losses, from a workforce of 2,800, through voluntary redundancies.
This will also mean the university having to review what courses it runs in future, with some likely to be cut before the start of the 2016/17.
Acting vice-chancellor Alastair Adair said yesterday's announcement was a direct result of the budget cuts and "there has to be flowing from this a really mature debate among Northern Ireland politicians regarding the funding of higher education in the province because the implications of this are dire".
"The fundamental message is the Northern Ireland Executive is dis-investing in our young people, it's robbing them of the opportunity for skills and what you will see is an export of our young people to other parts of the UK," he said.
Professor Deirdre Heenan, UU's pro-vice-chancellor of communication and provost for the Coleraine and Magee campuses, warned of the consequences of courses being shed.
"The reality is in the future Northern Ireland will be a wasteland for certain areas and certain courses that won't be provided," she said.
Despite the massive cuts, work to transform UU's existing 'art college' campus, which will see it transfer most courses from Jordanstown to central Belfast, is continuing.
The £250m plans will see student numbers in the city centre rise from 2,000 to 15,000.
Asked how the university could spend so much on buildings if it was cutting such large numbers of students, a spokeswoman said an independent review found that buildings on the Jordanstown campus were nearing the end of their economic life and renovation presented challenges.
"The outcome was the decision to further develop the Belfast campus and transfer activities there. Once the Belfast campus development completes it will house the majority of students who would typically be based at the Jordanstown campus, as well as those whose courses are already delivered at the Belfast campus," she said.
"The cost of the Belfast campus development is £250m. It will ensure we continue to provide a world class learning environment for our students, regenerate a major part of Belfast city centre and deliver wider economic benefits to Northern Ireland."
Queen's University Belfast also plans to make cuts in September and previously announced it would reduce its intake by around 290 due to budget pressures.
