Adelaide Uni Vice-Chancellor will not commit to pay cut amid parliament vote on salary cap
Reporting by Ivan Jankovic
Some teaching staff also to be phased out in the long-term
Adelaide University has revealed that some teaching staff are facing redundancies in the long-term, in addition to 130 admin staff being phased out by the end of next year.
This is part of a proposed restructure that aims to “spend less money running ourselves” according to Vice-Chancellor Peter Høj.
The plan will phase out 9% of professional staff and merge the Faculty of Sciences with ECMS and the Professions with the Arts.
Høj attended a student forum last Monday along with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Jennie Shaw, and Chief Operating Officer, Bruce Lines, to address “organisational sustainability”.
These drastic measures are intended to address a forecasted $22 million shortfall in 2022 and $47 million in 2023. Høj cited declining international student enrolments and decreased government funding as two key drivers.
In response, the university aims to generate an additional $20 million in new revenue and $30 million in savings.
Low-enrolment courses on the chopping block
The announcement of cuts to teaching staff is new. Dates and numbers have not yet been set but will save $10 million per annum of the university’s $550 million salary bill. The Advertiser estimates this equates to roughly 70 academic jobs.
Addressing this year’s $47 million surplus, Høj quickly pointed out that this was an “accounting surplus” rather than a “real surplus”.
Only about $9 million is available in liquid funds. The rest is in yet-unspent Government research funding that cannot be used for anything else.
Shaw said that with 50% of programs accounting for 99.3% of student enrollments, and 16,000 enrolled in a totally unique study pattern, it was time to look at “rationalising” some of that flexibility.
“While it’s been great to have that choice, we’re in a different, difficult environment now and have to look at reducing it a little bit,” she said.
“We’re always reviewing our courses to see what’s viable and what’s not… is it expensive to run? How many students are enrolled? Is it still relevant to students?”
Shaw said program changes will affect existing students minimally, while new students from 2023 onwards will be offered an adjusted slate of programs.
Høj said that discontinuing courses with low enrolments would free up teaching staff’s time to those which cater to the bulk of students.
“Professional staff overworked”
Students and staff have been incensed at the proposal, with the campaign No Adelaide University Cuts organising a sit-in at Hub Central on Wednesday. Roughly 100 students filled the Hub amid chants of ‘The only cuts we want to see are from the VC’s salary.’
At the rally, NTEU Adelaide Vice-President Kent Getsinger said the lack of Federal government funding to the university sector saw 17,000 jobs disappear last year.
“There has been no proper justification for these cuts. Staff were subjected to ‘consultations’ on the first day of semester 2, with all sessions crammed into 2 days when academic and professional staff were facing a severely stressful start while we were all in lockdown.
“Casuals face constant anxiety about not having the security of a continuing wage that we all deserve nor a career pathway, not to mention wage theft.
“Professional staff are likewise overworked… Many skip doctor’s appointments or don’t report their overtime because they fear the amount of work or not being ‘seen’ to be a ‘good worker’. These cuts will make it all worse.”
Concerns have been raised about the possibility of admin duties being offloaded onto staff and unpaid overtime. Both Høj and Shaw said the University did not underpay its staff.
A petition against these proposals has garnered over 500 signatures to date.
A university spokesperson said consultation will continue with students and staff.
“The University’s financial result for 2020, which was announced in detail to staff and the media on 28 May 2021, has no bearing on the forward-looking financial impact of the pandemic.”
With another rally scheduled for August 23, Høj said he supported the right to protest and that “our University should be a beacon of open, respectful and robust debate.”
“Appalling, exorbitant salaries”
Høj said he would “contemplate” another salary sacrifice if the uni doesn’t “manage things properly.” He said he took a $200k salary cut relative to the last Vice-Chancellor’s pay, which was about $1.1 million, when he began this job in February.
State upper-house Greens MP Robert Simms will table legislation calling for the salary of Vice-Chancellors to be capped to the State Premier’s — roughly $400k.
“Australian Vice-Chancellors are some of the highest paid in the world, meanwhile their staff are subject to ongoing casualisation and wage and job cuts,” he said.
“It’s time to cap Vice Chancellor salaries to ensure they are more in line with community expectations. Surely the days of VC’s being paid like multinational CEOs are over.”
The University Council will vote on these measures on the 23rd of August.
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