ABC News | 5 June 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The University of Melbourne plans to cut 540 administrative jobs (15% of the non-academic workforce) by January 2016 as part of a $70 million savings program. The job cuts do not include academic staff. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......…… The university delivered the news to staff members at meeting earlier today. The university's vice chancellor, Professor Glyn Davis, issued a statement after the meeting: It was not an easy message to deliver, or receive, that the university has to undertake this reduction in the total number of professional staff. We are hopeful we can minimise the impact on staff through … [Read more...]
VU to cut 300 more jobs
05/05/2014 by
5 May 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Victoria University seeks to reposition itself as the "university of opportunity" as it cuts 300 jobs - 13% of its workforce- in an effort to cut costs by $50 million by 2016. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….................................... The university's vice-chancellor Peter Dawkins said about 200 professional staff and 100 academic staff would be cut. VU has struggled since student places were uncapped in 2012 and its traditional Western Melbourne student cohort were offered places at the more prestigious institutions, such as Melbourne and RMIT. Dawkins says the university needs to brace itself for … [Read more...]
The Scan # 148 13 March 2014
13/03/2014 by
___________________________________________________________________________________________ Shake up for rental scheme 13 March 2014 | The government has flagged a shake-up of the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) in the wake of revelations the program has been manipulated to build student housing that is being let to wealthy foreign students. Two developers behind an 823-bed NRAS development in Sydney tapped more than $80 million in subsidies to construct a building to be filled largely by international students. Universities have also snapped up thousands of NRAS incentives to build large blocks of studio accommodation that is often taken up by fee-paying international … [Read more...]
NTEU infographic on UQ strike
11/03/2014 by
11 March 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has taken out a full page advertisement on page 10 of the Courier Mail to highlight the industrial issues at the University of Queensland as the NTEU sees them. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… … [Read more...]
UQ staff to strike
10/03/2014 by
10 March 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… NTEU members at the University of Queensland (UQ) will strike on 11 March for better pay and conditions. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… NTEU UQ Branch President, Associate Professor Andrew Bonnell, said that the University languishes behind others when it came to pay, workloads, and indigenous employment. He said UQ is in the top three universities in Australia on most indicators but ranks 23rdfor pay and that, despite student numbers having risen by 20% over 5 years, there has been no increase in teaching staff. The strain this places on workloads obviously has negative consequences for student … [Read more...]
Macquarie staff to strike
10/03/2014 by
The Australian | 10 March 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… NTEU members at Macquarie University are striking on Tuesday 11 March for more permanent and early career academic staff to address casualisation and ensure fairer workloads. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Management has offered staff a 9 % pay rise over three years in a proposal largely in line with recent agreements elsewhere in the sector of around 3 per cent a year. But the union is seeking 11% over three-and-a-half years, or just over 3.1% a year. The key disagreement is over the NTEU’s national campaign to get universities to convert more casual positions into permanent … [Read more...]
Job cuts at La Trobe
28/02/2014 by
ABC Online | 28 February 2014 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… La Trobe University has confirmed it is cutting 350 jobs as part of a restructure. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… University management told staff at a meeting this afternoon. It is understood the redundancies are compulsory, and will affect the university's Bundoora campus in Melbourne's north west as well as its regional Victorian campuses. Virginia Mansel-Lees of the National Tertiary Education Union says it is not known what faculties will be targeted. "Staff are outraged and also worried about their jobs and job security, wondering whether their area will be targeted, if so … [Read more...]
The Scan’s most viewed posts 2013
15/12/2013 by
15 December 2013 In 2013, over 700 items were posted on The Scan (down from about 900 in 2012). There were some surprises. The short obituary on Peter Redlich attracted a surprising number of views because he died suddenly (although he'd been ill for some time), being Jewish, he was buried within 24 hours and a full obituary wasn't published for some weeks, so as word spread, people ended up at The Scan via search engines. An increasing amount of traffic comes to The Scan by way of search engines: The Scan "archive" of items is now approaching 2000 (it totals more than posts of over 1600 because a post may contain several items). The Scan of 22 March 2012 is a perennial … [Read more...]
Indefinite strike at CAE
26/11/2013 by
NTEU News | 26 November 2013 Staff at Melbourne’s Centre for Adult Education (CAE) have been on an indefinite strike since Monday 18 November 2013. The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) says it has been bargaining with management representatives for a new enterprise agreement since February 2011 and staff have not had a pay increase since May 2010. An agreement was reached at the end of 2011, but, according to the NTEU, six months later the CAE reneged on the agreement, “after interference by the state government.” A new agreement was reached at the end of 2012 and again they reneged on it, and in June this year they put over 30 cuts to employment conditions on the … [Read more...]
Concern for courses as ANU redundancies fall short
14/11/2013 by
ABC News | 12 November 2013 The National Tertiary Education Union staff fears the Australian National University (ANU) may start forcing staff redundancies and cut courses to meet its budget shortfall.The university says 147 professional staff have accepted voluntary redundancies, short of the 230 jobs it plans to cut in a bid to save more than $50 million in lost government funding.A further 50 academic staff have accepted an early retirement as part of the ANU's academic renewal program.The university says it will use the savings to re-invest in new academic positions.An ANU spokesperson says there are no plans to start forcing staff redundancies and that the university never … [Read more...]
