Policy & Research www.nteu.org.au/policy Director (Policy & Research): Paul Kniest Policy & Research Officers: Dr Terri MacDonald, Kieran McCarron The unit is under the direction of the National President
The most important issues addressed by the National Policy and Research Unit (PRU) during the last 12 months have been the profound impact of COVID-19 on universities and university staff and the need for a sustainable and fair funding framework for the sector. COVID-19 While institutions responded early on in the pandemic by moving courses online and amending their education offerings and delivery, it soon become evident that COVID-19 would have more substantial and negative effects on the sector. The significant reduction in university revenue, primarily as a result of the collapse of the international student market, is estimated to have cost our universities somewhere between $3 billion and $5 billion in revenue this year and up to $19 billion over the next few years. This, in turn, has led to the broadest and deepest loss of jobs the sector has ever seen.
Image (this page): Social media graphic for the #BlocktheBill campaign; Greens leader Adam Bandt with the NTEU’s Fund Uni Fairly polly pledge. Images (opposite page):State of the Uni survey 2020; Shadow Education spokesperson, Tanya Plibersek, supporting our Find Uni Fairly campaign in Federal Parliament; #BlocktheBill Fund Uni Fairly social media graphic, Sept 2020.
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While these job losses were initially felt by our casual, limited term and professional/ general staff, a wave of voluntary and forced redundancies has since flowed through to ongoing positions. As a result, over 12,600 jobs are now gone, with many more thousands likely to follow; the NTEU’s own projections are for around 30,000 job losses as a result of this current crisis. However, we know this does not include all of the thousands of casuals and fixed term
workers who lost work or did not have their contracts renewed, with many universities hiding their true numbers of casual workers and the Government keen to play down media coverage. While all sectors of the economy have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, the Government has been selective as to which sectors are to be saved. While they were prepared to invest hundreds of billions in saving private sector jobs, our public universities were effectively excluded from accessing the same assistance. Instead, using the distraction of the COVID-19 crisis, the Morrison Government introduced its JobsReady Graduate suite of policies which have slashed public investment per student and, on average, increased student fees. Policy Reviews and Budget Surpluses In policy terms, 2019 ended in a whimper. The Government released a number of policy reviews including the Coaldrake Review of provider classifications, the Napthine Review of regional tertiary education and the Noonan Review the Australian qualifications framework. In November 2019 the Government released a set of practical guidelines (developed in conjunction with universities) to counter foreign interference in the Australian university sector. Secrecy and the corporate university The COVID-19 crisis has not only exposed the Government’s hostility toward our universities but it has also highlighted the arrogance of university managements and their dismissive attitude to both staff
NTEU ANNUAL REPORT 2020 ◆ Policy & Research
