Hawaii Pacific University has cut about 20 administrative positions to offset a drop in enrollment. The move also comes amid a shift in priorities to raise the school’s profile to become one of the top 10 private universities serving the Western U.S., school officials said.

HPU President Geoffrey Bannister said in a memo emailed to staff Wednesday that the school was forced to make "difficult budgetary and personnel changes" this week because of "enrollment fluctuations" over the last five years.

He added that "going forward, we need to continue to make strategic investments in the future of the institution in line with HPU’s new strategic plan. These strategic investments in one area have to be funded by savings in another if HPU is to remain competitive."

Enrollment at the state’s largest private university has dropped to about 7,500 students from 8,000 students in that time frame.

"It’s not an enormous drop. It’s been a small and steady drop," said Todd Simmons, vice president for marketing and communications. "We are heavily tuition-reliant as a private, not-for-profit university. If we experience a downturn in that area, it does create some challenges as we’re very market-sensitive."

Simmons declined to specify how many people were laid off, but said the cuts affect less than 2 percent of HPU’s staff and numbered fewer than 25 employees. He said none of HPU’s more than 600 full- and part-time faculty were affected. The school’s website says it has more than 1,600 faculty and staff.

He also wouldn’t disclose specific positions cut. "There’s been some effect in every administrative division of the university," Simmons said, citing the marketing and communications and budget offices as examples.

Bannister said the university has "provided generous transition support and counseling" for employees who lost their jobs.

That includes severance packages, health care coverage and assistance from an outsourcing agency to help them identify employment opportunities, Simmons said.

He said there are no future layoffs planned.

"It’s never easy to do these things. We think, ultimately, for the health and success of the university, they are necessary," Simmons said. "We have to couple our need to live within our expenses with our need to implement a strategic plan that calls for big new things from the university."

Simmons said the strategic plan, completed in 2012, is a proprietary document. (A separate master plan for the university’s facilities — which includes a planned $34 million redevelopment of the Aloha Tower Marketplace — is underway.)

"We’ve committed to a goal of making HPU one of the top 10 private master’s universities serving the Western U.S. … To get there requires it not just be business as usual for us," he said. "We’re moving the university into a new era. We have a lot we still need to do to properly develop and build out the university, and this is part of that."

By one measure, HPU ranked No. 81 out of 90 public and private universities serving the Western region in U.S. News & World Report’s "Best Colleges 2013" review.

Bannister said enrollment at HPU, which has a large international student population, has been affected by the national and international financial crises. The school also felt the effects of federal sequestration, which temporarily halted tuition assistance for military students. About one-third of HPU’s enrollment comes from its military campus programs.

"The long-term future is bright, but the need to become more efficient and effective remains with us because it is at the heart of affordability for our students," Bannister wrote in the memo. "The core of the institution is our academic mission and we continue to protect this critical heart."

Regular full-time tuition for most undergraduate programs will be $19,980 for the upcoming 2013-14 academic year and $14,850 for most full-time graduate programs.