November 4, 2024

UOW announces Draft Change Proposal

Potentially affected staff have been notified directly and will have four weeks to consider and consult on the draft change proposal

The University of Wollongong (UOW) has commenced the next stage of consultation with potentially affected staff after announcing a Draft Workplace Change Proposal today.

Following a process to assess the viability of teaching areas, and a Preliminary Phase of Consultation, the University has identified 25 disciplines across its four faculties that will be in scope for the next round of consultation.

Not all disciplines in scope will be disestablished – some may be downsized or consolidated into other teaching areas. The anticipated outcome is a reduction in roughly 90 FTE positions and an estimated recurrent saving of around $15-20M.

A range of financial and non-financial factors were taken into consideration, and not all unviable teaching activities are in scope. Many will be retained for non-financial reasons.

Interim Vice-Chancellor and President Professor John Dewar AO said the draft proposal would significantly reduce recurrent expenditure by addressing unviable teaching areas.

“No decisions have been made about the future of the disciplines identified. We are committed to a genuine consultation process with potentially affected staff, to determine whether a discipline is disestablished, downsized, or consolidated into other teaching areas,” Professor Dewar said.

“The feedback we receive through this consultation process will inform any revisions we make to the proposal. We will be working closely with potentially affected staff so that they have every opportunity to have their say.

“There are some areas of the University with low student enrolment where we can no longer justify maintaining our current levels of staffing. This proposal aims to address that.

“While we have taken some important steps to stabilise this year’s budget, these are not long-term solutions. To transform our university, achieve financial sustainability and lay the foundation for our future success by building on our strengths, we must address teaching and research activities that are unviable and significantly reduce our ongoing expenditure overall.

“The decision to initiate this process has not been an easy one. But we must make tough choices now to set the University up for a brighter future.” 

The consultation process is being conducted in alignment with the requirements of the University’s enterprise agreements. For disciplines that are in scope, voluntary redundancies will be considered.

It follows the University suffering a $35M drop in revenue this year, caused by a significant reduction in international onshore student enrolments.

Affected staff are being provided with personalised, professional, and confidential support through the University’s Employee Assistance Program provider, TELUS Health.