A total of 137 staff are likely to lose their jobs at the University of Wollongong in the latest round of university cuts, with the potential to cut whole disciplines, including history.
Interim Vice-Chancellor John Dewar released the University’s latest change proposal on Monday, identifying 25 disciplines that could be deleted or downsized. While consultation is underway, individual staff received letters informing them their jobs were under consideration for the chopping block, with the university seeking to shed the equivalent of 90 full-time positions, shaving $15-20 million off the UoW wages bill.
Professor Dewar said the changes were essential to achieve long-term financial sustainability, despite the new revenue streams the University is set to unlock with its new campus in Gujurat, India, which is able to take uncapped international student enrolments when it opens to FinTech and IT students this month.
“There are some areas of the University with low student enrolment where we can no longer justify maintaining our current levels of staffing. This proposal aims to address that,” Professor Dewar said.
The National Tertiary Education Union’s (NTEU) Damien Cahill, slammed the cuts.
“I think this will be a devastating blow to its reputation and its image,” Dr Cahill told the ABC.
“A university without a history department or a university that can’t properly teach maths or science.
“Cutting jobs in these areas and potentially cutting whole departments could have a serious impact on the university’s ability to continue to offer a broad range of subjects into the future.”
