The latest round of change proposals released by the ANU won’t be the last. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
The Australian National University’s proposed changes to its College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS) have been described as “gutting” with dozens jobs on the chopping block.
The change proposals for the newly established College of Science and Medicine and the Research and Innovation Portfolio have also been released.
It’s expected up to 59 jobs will be axed.
The institute has been making changes and suggesting further ones as it tries to reduce its operating expenditure by $250 million to break even by 2026.
CASS has been given a forward planning estimate target of $62 million for 2026, meaning it needs to reduce expenditure by about $9.5 million.
The college’s dean Professor Bronwyn Parry told a town hall meeting today (Thursday, 3 July) they had to propose “contractions” of some areas of business across CASS in order to meet the “significantly reduced” budget target.
“But we intend to establish two multi-disciplinary schools within CASS and expand the remit of two existing schools into areas of identified future growth and to disestablish a number of small, select centres,” she said.
“[We also propose to disestablish] the Research School of the Social Sciences and the Research School of the Humanities and the Arts.
“They’re called Research Schools but they don’t actually employ anyone directly … their directors act as very important convenors of the work that takes place in the schools below them, providing oversight and governance of all their operations.
“But this work, which I agree is vitally important, could arguably be just as well be [managed] by those individuals without the need of a whole apparatus of a whole research school.”
It’s been suggested the new multi-disciplinary schools would be called the School of Creative and Cultural Practice and School of Social Foundations and Futures.
The College of Science and Medicine has been allocated $108.2 million for 2025 but it has been predicted the college will spend $114.4 million. This means it has a savings target of $6.2 million for 2025.
Staff have already voiced their concerns about the proposals, with some furious that the university had held the town halls while many staff were at conferences.
CASS senior lecturer Dr Liz Allen claimed on X/Twitter that some media organisations were physically removed from the town hall meeting.
“Gutting … more job cuts than expected,” she said.
“Committed, respected and highly impactful [CASS] staff have been told their jobs are no longer and about 30 people are facing forced redundancy.
“It’s come as a complete shock to identified individuals. No consultation, no warning.”
Dr Allen claimed staff first knew about their redundancies a day ago through email, but were told they couldn’t tell others.
“Silent and alone … staff are kept in the dark,” she said.
“It’s devastating. A massive psycho-social hazard.”
Consultation on the proposals close by 24 July.
The ANU recently announced it was halfway to achieving its salary savings target but more work was needed.
“Regrettably, we are proposing some job losses in these [three] areas: approximately 59 positions occupied by staff, which represents 6-13 per cent in headcount for each area,” an ANU spokesperson said.
Change proposals for Information Technology Services, the Information Security Office and the Planning and Service Performance Division were released last month, with a proposed reduction of 41 occupied positions.
The Academic Portfolio change proposal will be the next to be released.
ANU vice-chancellor Professor Genevieve Bell said every effort had been made to minimise the “impact on our community”.
“[But] it’s a reality that some positions are proposed to be disestablished as we continue to seek a more sustainable financial future for the University,” she said.
“These are hard and difficult but necessary conversations and we have spent a lot of time talking to staff across campus about what the possible future state of their local areas could look like.
“We recognise this is an incredibly challenging time for our whole community. 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.”
