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Courses at Macquarie University will soon have to meet a viability score and efficiency metric to survive, as the university prepares a raft of reforms to make it smaller and more financially sustainable.
It could see more than 30 science and engineering courses slashed, including the Bachelor of Advanced Science, Bachelor of Marine Science and Bachelor of Mathematical Sciences, according to a proposed list of courses for 2021.
More than 30 specialisations and majors could be cut alongside them, including statistics, computing, applied mathematics and electronics engineering specialities. Proposed course cuts across other faculties have not yet been revealed.
Vice-chancellor Bruce Dowton is expected to provide an update to the university community this week, but staff and students are already protesting against the flagged cuts to a number of degrees and majors next year.
It comes as federal Education Minister Dan Tehan promised $326 million to fund 12,000 extra university places on Wednesday, which is a key feature of the government's controversial higher education reforms package poised to be voted on by the Senate as early as next week.
Peak body Universities Australia said the money was essential to help universities weather the storm of COVID-19, which had spurred a 20 per cent boom in applications from year 12 students wanting to study at universities in NSW and the ACT next year.
A spokeswoman for Macquarie University, which faces a revenue gap of $125 million in 2020, said the university was in the process of revising its coursework suite in order "to deliver a better targeted portfolio of majors, courses and specialisations for the future".
Under a plan resolved by the university's executive last month, and seen by the Herald, all undergraduate courses, majors and specialisations must have 50 enrolments to remain viable, while the number is set at 25 for postgraduate courses and their components.
A new efficiency metric will also determine how many majors or subjects a degree can offer. The number of units available will increase with each group of 50 undergraduate enrolments, or 25 postgraduate enrolments.
President of Macquarie's National Tertiary Education Union branch, Nikola Balnave, said the new measures would "bite into the choices students have" by restricting their ability to choose between multiple majors or units.
"It’s drastically, in many cases, removing flexibility and choice for students," she said. "If students are already midway through a major ... It’s just not going to be the major they thought they might be completing."
Members of the arts faculty, which also faces course cuts, have asked the university to halt plans to axe units until staff had access to master plans for all of the proposed cuts.
"We want access to the exemptions process and criteria. We want to know what the projected impact of these changes will be on staffing, including casuals and contract staff," said a motion passed by 100 union members.
Given the magnitude of these changes - the largest we know of in Macquarie's history - and the likely impact on our jobs and on students' ability to get a quality education, we request that there be full transparency."
The university's director of human resources, Nick Crowley, told the NTEU in a letter that significant shifts in student enrolments and voluntary redundancies meant it was "not unusual" that courses would be rested this year.
He said considerations about coursework viability and efficiency were an ongoing part of the university's work, and that units were commonly rested, deleted or added each year.
But Dr Balnave said she was concerned that the units rested in 2021 would never come back, as they would not meet the university's required standards. "The writing is on the wall," she said.
The university spokeswoman said Macquarie would prioritise communicating the changes to staff and students in "a clear and transparent way". "Disruption will be kept to a minimum and all students will be supported through any transition," she said.
"The result of this work will be a suite of courses for students that is easier to navigate with a keener focus on employability outcomes. It also means that the university will deliver a smaller and more financially sustainable course offering that is more responsive to the needs of both students and employers."
Macquarie has avoided placing a figure on job cuts and promised it would not pursue forced academic staff redundancies this year, but internal communications reveal it has so far received 62 applications for voluntary redundancies.
"
Source:https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...ores-to-survive-20200930-p560qb.html#comments
Courses at Macquarie University will soon have to meet a viability score and efficiency metric to survive, as the university prepares a raft of reforms to make it smaller and more financially sustainable.
It could see more than 30 science and engineering courses slashed, including the Bachelor of Advanced Science, Bachelor of Marine Science and Bachelor of Mathematical Sciences, according to a proposed list of courses for 2021.
More than 30 specialisations and majors could be cut alongside them, including statistics, computing, applied mathematics and electronics engineering specialities. Proposed course cuts across other faculties have not yet been revealed.
Vice-chancellor Bruce Dowton is expected to provide an update to the university community this week, but staff and students are already protesting against the flagged cuts to a number of degrees and majors next year.
It comes as federal Education Minister Dan Tehan promised $326 million to fund 12,000 extra university places on Wednesday, which is a key feature of the government's controversial higher education reforms package poised to be voted on by the Senate as early as next week.
Peak body Universities Australia said the money was essential to help universities weather the storm of COVID-19, which had spurred a 20 per cent boom in applications from year 12 students wanting to study at universities in NSW and the ACT next year.
A spokeswoman for Macquarie University, which faces a revenue gap of $125 million in 2020, said the university was in the process of revising its coursework suite in order "to deliver a better targeted portfolio of majors, courses and specialisations for the future".
Under a plan resolved by the university's executive last month, and seen by the Herald, all undergraduate courses, majors and specialisations must have 50 enrolments to remain viable, while the number is set at 25 for postgraduate courses and their components.
A new efficiency metric will also determine how many majors or subjects a degree can offer. The number of units available will increase with each group of 50 undergraduate enrolments, or 25 postgraduate enrolments.
President of Macquarie's National Tertiary Education Union branch, Nikola Balnave, said the new measures would "bite into the choices students have" by restricting their ability to choose between multiple majors or units.
"It’s drastically, in many cases, removing flexibility and choice for students," she said. "If students are already midway through a major ... It’s just not going to be the major they thought they might be completing."
Members of the arts faculty, which also faces course cuts, have asked the university to halt plans to axe units until staff had access to master plans for all of the proposed cuts.
"We want access to the exemptions process and criteria. We want to know what the projected impact of these changes will be on staffing, including casuals and contract staff," said a motion passed by 100 union members.
Given the magnitude of these changes - the largest we know of in Macquarie's history - and the likely impact on our jobs and on students' ability to get a quality education, we request that there be full transparency."
The university's director of human resources, Nick Crowley, told the NTEU in a letter that significant shifts in student enrolments and voluntary redundancies meant it was "not unusual" that courses would be rested this year.
He said considerations about coursework viability and efficiency were an ongoing part of the university's work, and that units were commonly rested, deleted or added each year.
But Dr Balnave said she was concerned that the units rested in 2021 would never come back, as they would not meet the university's required standards. "The writing is on the wall," she said.
The university spokeswoman said Macquarie would prioritise communicating the changes to staff and students in "a clear and transparent way". "Disruption will be kept to a minimum and all students will be supported through any transition," she said.
"The result of this work will be a suite of courses for students that is easier to navigate with a keener focus on employability outcomes. It also means that the university will deliver a smaller and more financially sustainable course offering that is more responsive to the needs of both students and employers."
Macquarie has avoided placing a figure on job cuts and promised it would not pursue forced academic staff redundancies this year, but internal communications reveal it has so far received 62 applications for voluntary redundancies.
"
Source:https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...ores-to-survive-20200930-p560qb.html#comments
