“My salary and the pay of our senior leaders has been frozen, and we have placed strict limits on hiring, reduced travel and catering, and restricted use of external consultants,” Williams said. “We also have no choice but to reduce our workforce by 300 to 400 positions.”
The University of Technology last week told staff up to 400 jobs could go under its restructure less than six months after flagging it would need to cut operating expenditure by $100 million next year. That figure is up from a $45 million shortfall forecast last year.
The University of Technology is expected to cut up to 400 jobs.Credit: Oscar Coleman
In a statement on Thursday, the National Tertiary Education Union said UTS vice chancellor Andrew Parfitt had “faced disgruntled staff at town halls on multiple occasions to justify these changes”.
“Despite a lack of evidence and logic, he insists the university must cut 400 jobs. In the midst of this turmoil, two executives within the senior leadership team have exited abruptly since the start of the year,” the statement said.
On Wednesday, Parfitt announced university provost Vicki Chen would be leaving UTS “to pursue her research career and other opportunities”.
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In a statement to the Herald, Parfitt said he was confident UTS had a pathway to achieve financial sustainability.
“We have been open with staff that job losses of approximately 400 are likely to be required,” he said.
“UTS is facing financial sustainability pressure as we work to recover from the impacts of COVID, balance increasing costs and manage government policy changes that have reduced our funding and limited near-term revenue growth.”
The federal government last year announced plans to limit international student numbers amid acute political pressure to reduce migration. The laws failed to pass the Senate last year but changes to migration policy have caused uncertainty for universities.
The University of Wollongong is also planning to axe up to 270 positions amid major financial challenges, blamed in part due to changes to the government’s migration policy and a sharp reduction in international student numbers.
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The flagged cuts come as Australian universities face scrutiny from a Senate inquiry into the governance and management of the institutions amid rising concern around executive pay, expenditure on consultants, financial management, handling of antisemitism on campus and the widespread issue of underpayment of academics.
The Australian National University is expected to make further job cuts this year in a bid to return the institution to financial sustainability as it confronts a $200 million deficit.
Last month, more than 800 ANU staff passed a vote of no confidence against chancellor Julie Bishop over job cuts and leadership issues.
The vote occurred after it was revealed Bishop used the university’s funds to pay her business partner as a consultant, and that vice chancellor Genevieve Bell held a second job at Intel in the US while in her role.
Australian National University is expected to make further job cuts this year after its latest voluntary redundancy round.Credit: Louie Douvis
The union’s national president, Alison Barnes, said the staff vote, which was open to all National Tertiary Education Union members, was emblematic of a governance crisis across the country.
“The ANU scandals have piled up higher than the Telstra Tower, yet the council continues to back in a vice chancellor and chancellor who have both failed to take any responsibility for terrible mismanagement,” Barnes said.
It is not yet clear which faculties at the universities will be affected by cuts, or the proposed timelines for the restructures.
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