By Amelia Gordon
The ANU is undergoing significant restructuring with widespread course cuts and job losses among staff. Staff are being asked to forgo wage increases. These changes are directly affecting students’ academic experience, with many feeling they are being offered fewer course options, facing larger class sizes and fears of delayed graduation timelines.
ANU has repeatedly cited the financial situation as the driving force behind these changes. Decreased government funding, international student caps, and the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have all been referred to as sources of pressure for the university’s finances
In a recent statement, Vice Chancellor Geneieve Bell stated “like all complex organisations, we are experiencing the very-real challenges of being an employer in the 21st century. ANU has been operating outside of healthy financial tolerance, and the university in its current state cannot be the university Prime Minister Chifley had envisioned.”
In the statement, Bell also mentions that the ANU has accumulated nearly $600 million of deficit since the pandemic.
This includes the promise by ANU to cut over $100 million from staff salaries. The NTEU ACT division has estimated a further 650 jobs would be lost in accordance with the $100 million salary reduction.
In the wake of growing student frustration with the university’s management, the ‘NO CUTS AT ANU’ campaign was launched at the beginning of the year by a number of ANU students. Many students are finding they are unable to enrol in their intended courses and are experiencing drastic changes to the structures of their degrees.
Student and Co-Convenor of NO CUTS AT ANU Lucy Chapman-Kelly said, “student learning conditions are staff working conditions. When staff are sacked, their wages cut, or workload increased – this means students get a lower quality education. Staff and students need to fight collectively against this.”
Protests have been led by both the NTEU and the NO CUTS AT ANU campaign amidst widespread discontent among staff and students regarding course cancellations, job losses, and the erosion of academic resources.
“We also demand more transparency about why the cuts are happening from university management, and for the university to open its books”, continues Chapman-Kelly.
The NO CUTS AT ANU campaign believes that “the university does not want to sacrifice its massive investments into fossil fuels or the military, but rather wants to slash jobs and reduce the quality of our education”.
Chapman-Kelly alleges that Genevieve Bell and the ANU Executive have not been transparent when it comes to the financial challenges being faced by the university.
“Universities are increasingly treated like businesses, where students are the commodity – this creates a culture of trying to find the cheapest ways to produce graduates, rather than prioritising the quality of our education”, Chapman-Kelly says.
“Ultimately, we want the cuts to be reversed. We think that Genevieve Bell and the ANU management should all take no more than the median ANU salary.”
“We also demand more transparency about why the cuts are happening from university management, and for the university to open its books”, declares Chapman-Kelly.
An ANU spokesperson has stated that the ANU will ensure that all students can undertake all compulsory courses for their degree on time. They also encourage students to contact Student Central for degree-related advice and help.
Observer reached out to ANUSA for their comment on the campaign, and their own similar campaign, but they did not respond in time for the publication of this article.
Graphics by Shé Chani
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