As recruiters start to realise experience is more important in a hire than a strong of degrees, universities are scrapping courses left, right and centre. If you’re not wanting to enter medicine or law, think deeply before committing oneself to a major HECS debt and three or four years of study at a university bereft of courses and staff.
The University of Technology Sydney has blocked new students from enrolling in more than 100 courses next year, spooking staff at the financially struggling institution, which plans to axe about 400 jobs.
Vice chancellor Andrew Parfitt said “I want to be very clear that no decision has been made to discontinue any course,” Parfitt said in an all-staff email on Thursday morning.
That means they’re cut.
The faculty of design and society is taking the biggest hit, with more than 60 courses suspended. The health faculty will not offer 33 courses next year.
The decision comes after the institution told staff in April that 400 jobs would be axed as part of a plan to find $100 million in savings next year.
UTS paid KPMG management consultants $4.8 million to advise on the change proposal.
UTS NTEU (National Tertiary Education Union) branch president Dr Sarah Attfield said some staff members reported “feeling physically ill”.
Universities around Australia are in deep, deep trouble. I commented in a blog recently that prospective university students should think again before paying for three years in servitude in an academic wasteland.
I’d think about Bali, India or even further afield. Spain is good.
According to The Australian, more than 3500 university staff will lose their jobs in the next 12 months.
Numerous universities this year have embarked on plans to axe jobs, including Australian National University, Western Sydney University and Macquarie University.
Macquarie University will scrap a raft of key courses as part of a brutal restructure that will axe more than 75 jobs and drastically cut options for students.
Bachelor degrees in archaeology, music, ancient languages will be scrapped, while sociology and ancient history will be decimated.
Bachelor of Arts students will no longer be able to study politics, gender studies, criminology, and psychological studies as majors. Master degrees in electronics engineering, ancient history and two IT fields will also be discontinued.
The University of Wollongong updated its restructuring plan to cut between 85 and 118 positions – a reduction from the 155 to 185 estimated in March.
Even the ANU, the jewel on the crown is only Group of Eight university with a research publication rate in decline and is battling news of systematic bullying. Last year ANU reported it was university was $600 million in the red after years of cumulative deficits.
That’s a lot or red and a lot of jobs and courses to be slashed.
Intensification of workloads, job insecurity amidst constant restructures, pressures to obtain competitive external funding, research excellence and student outcome targets, and toxic work environments are all threats to staff wellbeing.