Management at Macquarie University warns academics the times are changing and so must the way they work – and yes redundancies are mentioned.
The University makes the case for a new planning model in a staff paper which sets out changes to teaching and research imposed by “external factors” such as no increase in government research funding. Plus “rapidly changing technology” creates opportunities for “evolving how academic work is delivered.”
The University points to:
- Student demand for part-time study, course transfer and recognition of prior learning. “Yet our curriculum makes progress through a course hard to understand and the ability to transfer between courses and institutions, complex, restrictive and administratively costly.”
- Research is time and resource expensive. This places “greater focus” on the 40 % of working time allocated.
- New regulatory limitations on casual and fixed-term workers mean the university is “compelled” to utilise permanent staff “more intentionally and efficiently.”
- Capped international enrolments, flat domestic student demand and “uncertain government funding” mean universities cannot rely on growth to “ensure financial stability”
The University proposes to respond by:
- Designing academic work and workforce profile “to meet student and national needs”
- “Right-sizing” the academic workforce profile to meet student needs, “with a more simplified coursework suite”
- Ensuring any workplace changes, “including potential redundancies” are fair and objective.
But any hope that professional staff have about being off the hook, is forlorn. Despite the long and complex Professional Services Transformation Program, there will be “concurrent work and consultation” on “embedding, consolidating and building on the work already undertaken.”
The new project follows staff restructures at the beginning of the decade that targeted $25m each in savings on academic and professional staff costs.
