Course cuts : Student choice in the Job Ready Graduates era

Kieran McCarron, NTEU Policy & Research Officer

Kieran McCarron, NTEU Policy & Research OfficerLast year’s decline in international student numbers, coupled with the Federal Government’s funding cuts and refusal to grant universities access to JobKeeper set the scene for heavy austerity measures across Australian universities. In 2021 multiple course cuts are the result.

As NTEU members know too well the major cost saving measure pursued by university managements has been to reduce the number of staff they employ. Universities Australia recently confirmed that its members had shed 17,300 staff in 2020 – an enormous number, one that exceeds even the combined total of all public job loss announcements made by individual universities.

It is difficult to conceive of a scenario under which this mass dismissal of staff will not impact upon the core teaching and research work of our institutions. Indeed, it has become clear in reports coming from NTEU Branches that courses and programs are being cut across the sector. However, only a handful of universities embarking on major restructuring of course delivery have officially announced significant course losses.

Of universities in this category, the NTEU has been able to tally a total of at least 1783 courses (units or subjects) and 151 programs (usually degrees) that have been slated for removal in 2021.

This figure, however, only covers a few universities where numbers are available. There is a much larger group of universities that have not announced course cuts at an institutional level but have reported significant job losses. Reports from our branches suggest that these universities are quietly reducing or withholding course offerings on a discipline by discipline basis without announcing systematic changes – and thus avoiding public scrutiny.

Course reductions uncovered by the NTEU have varied significantly in scope by institution. Data collection is still underway, but from initial reports disciplines more affected appear to be Arts (especially performing arts), Languages, Sciences, and Maths – areas that mainly contain disciplines slated to receive funding cuts this year under the Federal Government’s Jobs Ready Graduate legislation.

While redundancies and job losses among our insecurely employed colleagues have been felt strongly by staff, it is current and future students who will feel the impact of reduced choice and opportunity in their education, especially in regional areas where there are already limited choices.

By educating the public about course cuts in the wake of the Jobs Ready Graduate Package we can keep up pressure on the Government for adequate university funding. ◆