ANU welcomes incoming DVC A Joan Leach, who steps up from director of its’ Australian National Centre for Public Awareness of Science. She replaces Grady Venville, whose exit, “to travel around Australia” was announced a month back. According to management, Professor Leach thinks “collegiality across the university is more important than ever before during this difficult period for ANU and the sector, because ‘that’s what’s going to get us through.’”
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Western Sydney U is hacked yet again. Management reports demographic, enrolment and progression information of 10,000 present and former students was accessed in January-February. The University states it will let them know next week. Plus WSU discovered late last month a post on the Dark Web, “referring to personal information belonging to the university community.” But not to worry, “as impacted individuals are identified, we will notify them and explain the steps those individuals should take to protect themselves.” This follows a January ’24 hack of 7,500 individuals’ records – discovered in May. And then in August WSU discovered its student management system and data warehouse were less hacked than sacked, with comprehensive records on an unspecified number of students accessed.
Vice-Chancellor George Williams apologised to the WSU community yesterday, again.
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Helen Gniel leaves TEQSA to become Registrar of Monash U. She will “oversee regulatory activities across the university and play a pivotal role in driving systems, policies and practices that result in a strong regulatory and compliance framework.” And line managers can’t do this? Perhaps not to sufficiently assure top management that the university is covered in this new age of the Commonwealth Student Ombudsman. “Dr Gniel will also oversee the resolution of student complaints and student conduct matters.” It’s described as a new position, but is more renewed. The last registrar was in the late ‘90s.
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TWTW last week reported QUT’s new med school will have 47 starters. QUT wants it known that it is 48.
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Here we go again. The TAFE lobby makes the case for applied research funding. “While academic research outputs are usually measured according to scholarly publications in peer-reviewed journals, TAFE-led applied research is often ‘research-in-action’, with results rapidly applied to the vocational or industry context. Innovations are frequently iterative and immediately implemented,” writes Teressa Schmidt from TAFE Directors Australia. Back in the ‘90s, colleges of advanced education were transformed into universities, in no small part to make the most of their research potential.
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Buried in the Budget papers is Treasury’s prediction that payments under the Research and Development Tax Incentive will decrease $640m through to 2028-29 (James Riley from InnovationAus found it first). It surely can’t all be because the Government banned funding gambling and tobacco R&D as of July. But wherever the demand will drop, it creates an opportunity for public science lobbies who less dislike than loathe research money not going to their members. In the past, they argued private sector recipients should be forced to share the cash, but now they can suggest that the 12% decline should all go to government-funded labs. Just the thing for submissions to (for now) Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic’s R&D review.
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The ANU branch of the National Tertiary Education Union announces staff elected member Liz Allen has resigned from the university council, following union members voting no confidence in VC Genevieve Bell and Chancellor Julie Bishop. “Liz is a credit to herself and her colleagues. The resignations we should be getting are from the Chancellor & Vice-Chancellor,” the union states.
There is also a new subset to the rumour-mongering all over Canberra about Professor Bell’s performance – debate whether the campaign against her is sexist. It definitely is a case of playing the person not the ball to stop a restructure.
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Uni Southern Queensland announces 150 jobs will go, with compulsory redundancies if enough people do not put their hands up. According to the newly released 2024 annual report, there were 600 full and fractional FT academics last year, 939 FTE professionals and 307 FTE casuals.
The cuts will surprise nobody – management has warned of hard times to come for months and has put a bunch of micro-restructures to staff, sometimes two at a time. This has not gone down well with the union, which argues they are part of one big plan and should be negotiated as such. The Fair Work Commission agrees, “it is not appropriate for the university to discuss with up to two employees in one work area the potential of making them redundant, when it is having approximate or relatively contemporaneous discussions with up to two employees in another work area … It is clear that the university is faced with significant issues and many of its employees will be affected by its decisions in 2025,” Commissioner Hunt said in February.
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Uni Canberra is offering voluntary redundancies to professional staff and VC Bill Shorten says “it is my 100% intention” that no one will be forced to go. The new staff cuts follow a VR round for academics. So far 190 positions are “disestablished,” as part of a $30m saving. More is needed, although how much more is not entirely clear. Last October, then emergency acting VC Stephen Parker said $50m recurrent had to be saved by end of 2025. Mr Shorten did not specify how much it will still take “to bridge the whole operating deficit in one year” but stated his confidence, “the whole university will give its best endeavours to accomplish this.”
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Uni Wollongong announces its offshore subsidiary is targeting a mid-year launch for an international campus in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. English-language and foundation programs are first, with degrees in 2027.
UoW emphasises that content, “will be shaped by “ its own course approval processes, “ensuring quality, integrity, and alignment with UOW’s values.” There’s a reason that needs stating – campus protests last year at the prospect of the university doing business with the Kingdom’s government. However Interim VC Eileen McLaughlin stated the obvious yesterday, without stating it “this is about ensuring our long-term strength – both here and internationally – by drawing on the distinctive capability we’ve built in offshore education.” UoW certainly knows a bit about exporting Australian education, with a campus in Dubai for 30 years; and it is the second foreign university licenced to set up in India (after Deakin U ). But back in the ‘Gong, falling student demand is cited as a reason for recent and continuing staff cuts expected to total 275 or so.
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One university stood firm Sunday, against the hurrumphathon opposing the Coalition’s commitment to cut international student numbers. Federation U welcomed it “as recognising the distinct role regional universities play in serving learners who live outside of big cities.” The Regional Universities Network agreed, welcoming, “the recognition of the unique needs of regional universities” but added “ additional consultation and policy development is needed to ensure there are no unintended consequences.” No problem there if the National Party has anything to do with it.
