Professor Bronywyn Parry, dean of the university’s college of arts and social sciences, said, “This decision reflects the need to reduce recurrent operating costs and address areas of duplication, while ensuring that core academic activities are sustainably embedded within schools and colleges.”
The cuts come as some of Sydney’s biggest universities are slashing jobs as part of radical cost-cutting measures amid major budget shortfalls caused by uncertainty over international student numbers.
At ANU, management has told staff the need for change has been driven by persistent financial challenges, declining international rankings, an inefficient decentralised operating model as well as increased competition and external uncertainty.
Under the current proposals, 59 jobs in the university’s college of science and medicine, college of arts and social science and its research and innovation portfolio are set to go.
Forty-one additional job cuts from its information security office, information technology services and planning and service performance divisions were proposed last month. Further academic cuts may follow.
An ANU spokesman said it was “on a journey” to financial sustainability and sought to reduce costs by $250 million, including $100 million in salaries. It had already achieved just over $50 million in salary savings.
ANU vice chancellor Professor Genevieve Bell said, “We need to make changes to ensure we can continue to deliver on our national mission to provide world-class teaching and research into the future, and in a way that is responsible in our use of public funds and the fees our students pay.”
Bell has stressed in updates to staff that the proposals are not final and are subject to consultation.
However, there is a perception among staff that the university has already lost a significant portion of its workforce over the past 12 months, National Tertiary Education Union ACT division branch secretary Lachlan Clohesy said.
“We think there is no continuing financial rationale for job cuts at ANU,” Clohesy said.
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Workplace Gender Equality agency data submitted by the ANU showed its headcount decreased by 797 in the 12 months to March. ANU has refuted this, telling staff this week that those figures cannot be used to calculate the size of its workforce because it uses “point in time, snapshot reports” and counts casual staff as full-time employees.
“Our view based on the cuts that they have already made is that they have already achieved the target and there is no financial justification for further cuts,” Clohesy said.
In March, more than 800 ANU staff members passed a vote of no-confidence against chancellor Julie Bishop over job cuts and leadership issues.
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