MELBOURNE University has refused to rule out further job cuts as its prestigious Melbourne Business School merges with the faculty of economics and commerce.

Details of the plan on an internal university website, leaked to The Age, reveal that the two entities will create a new faculty of business and economics, led by an executive dean, Professor Margaret Abernethy, who currently heads economics and commerce.

Professor Abernethy said the merger had almost been concluded and staff would be briefed on Monday.

She said ‘‘detailed staffing transition plans’’ were an integral part of the merger, but she did not rule out job losses.

Professor Abernethy said ‘‘as with any merger, there may be areas of overlap’’.

Staff would be consulted about any changes in staff numbers from the two current faculties.

‘‘The implementation plan will consider how we can best protect the brand of both entities by ensuring that we provide high quality services to students and staff,’’ she said.

If approved by the board of the Melbourne Business School, the new faculty will form at the start of October.

The spectre of more job losses follows an announcement earlier this week that the university will axe 220 academic and administrative positions.

Vice-chancellor Glyn Davis said the world’s economic crisis had savaged the university’s sizeable endowment.

The Melbourne Business School is one of the largest in the Asia-Pacific region for management education.

Last year its masters in business administration, which was the first in Australia, in 1963, was ranked 49 in the world by The Financial Times, one of only two rankings for Australian qualifications.

In an embarrassing blunder for the university, a 13-page communications plan, also on the internal website, said the university should have a ‘‘no surprises’’ approach to telling academic and administrative staff about the merger, and ‘‘certainly ahead of the media’’.

Melbourne University corporate affairs manager Christina Buckridge said she was ‘‘gobsmacked’’ that the website was live — and the information was out of date.

‘‘I wouldn’t believe anything on it,’’ she said.

An hour after The Age inquired about the website, the link was deactivated.

The new faculty will take the form of a body corporate with a board of five university-nominated directors and five donor director members, the website said.

The Melbourne Business School board will be responsible for the overall governance of the school and the new faculty, including financial performance, resource allocation and staffing.

Professor Abernethy said there were no plans for ‘‘university-wide’’ losses on top of the 220 announced this week.