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Dirty work, but its got to be done
With job losses and merger, there are the tough times for UWS, writes Brendan O'Keefe
STAFF and students at the University of Western Sydney — angry at what they say is a lack of consultation over course changes and redundancies have been warned. Things are going to get worse before they get better.
But when things do get better, the result will be an internationally competitive, streamlined university with increased research strength and money in the bank.
This is the vision of vice-chancellor Janice Reid, Who has guided the six- campus, 37,000-student University through its toughest years.
Essential to the vision is a 10-year, $100 million program of investment and development that will double the number of UWS’s internationally benchmarked re search centres and accommodate an extra 8000 students.
The proportion of foreign students is predicted to grow from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.
UWS plans to bolster money making ventures such as its University College, which offers foundation and English courses to for eign students.
It plans to increase revenue from a software business, intellectual property products and licences, and residences and conferences.
The proceeds will be invested in research expertise and appointments, which will reap further dividends in the long term, Professor Reid said.
After three years of pain, brought about partly by the federal Government’s refusal to Index re current grants to the university (and others), the UWS board of trustees met last month to endorse a plan under which the institution would, among other things, develop surplus land as residential, commercial and educational hubs. This would give “an assured source of funds in perpetuity”.
To save money, two of the university’s colleges will be merged and Its 21 schools will be reduced to 16.
“This period between now and midyear is particularly difficult be cause this is when all the change proposals are going through,” Professor Reid said.
“By midyear, the decisions will have been made by the board of trustees [which] academic units will be merged. We do expect some opposition.”
Last week, at least 18 academic staff in the school of computing and information technology were made redundant because of a blow out in the school’s salary budget. These redundancies would not be the lasts Professor Reid told the HES.
“We’re containing the number of voluntary redundancies in science and there may be others ... But they will be voluntary.”
The university’s $9 million budget deficit would be turned around to a bankable surplus, possibly as early as 2007.
“What we’re going to see over the next two or three years is we’ll reap the fruits of what has been a very difficult process,” Professor Reid said.
The difficult process has brought out many dissenters, who accuse university management of not consulting over course changes or cancellations, of ignoring union issues even when they have gone to industrial relations courts, of silencing opposition and of punitive reprisals. Professor Reid rejected all the claims, which have come from students, academics and union officials in various parts of the university.
it is a “campaign of complaint from a small number of people who would prefer the status quo”, she said. As for consultation, there were two schools of opinion.
One says “enough talk, let’s see the changes”, the other says “we don’t want to see change until there’s been more consultation”:
“Sometimes people ask for consultation to go on much longer because that means there’s an inevitable delay in the implementation of what are really critical changes and developments,” Professor Reid said.
Separate to the 10-year plan but equally important to Professor Reid and the university is its medical school, the first for Sydney’s west, which is slated to open in 2007. The federal Government has con tributed a $25 million Infrastructure grant and the NSW Government has given $18 million in kind (a mix of facilities and clinical professorships). It is a coup for UWS, whose catchment area contains some of Sydney’s poorest suburbs.
“One of our purposes is to give an opportunity to students, particularly in western Sydney, who will train, stay and open practices or work in hospitals in the west,” Professor Reid said. “Having been a staff member in a medical school for 15 years, I would be immensely thrilled and proud when the first students walk through the door.”
THE University of Western Sydney’s main aims:
*45,000 students (now 37,000)
*15 per cent international onshore students (now 10 per cent)
*12 internationally recognised research centres (now five)
*Research output at double last year’s level
*Close to 1000 research students from 600 this year
*Possible HECS increase from 2006
*Increase self-generated income 40 per cent of revenue
*Greater emphasis on postgraduate courses
*Raise $10 million to fund services if VSU is introduced
*Investment of $50 million over 10 years in research staff and infrastructure
*Increase research income from $25 million per year to $45 million
*Scholarships worth $1.5 million each year from 2006 or 2007
*UWS intends to be known for its student support, under a motto of “putting students first”
With job losses and merger, there are the tough times for UWS, writes Brendan O'Keefe
STAFF and students at the University of Western Sydney — angry at what they say is a lack of consultation over course changes and redundancies have been warned. Things are going to get worse before they get better.
But when things do get better, the result will be an internationally competitive, streamlined university with increased research strength and money in the bank.
This is the vision of vice-chancellor Janice Reid, Who has guided the six- campus, 37,000-student University through its toughest years.
Essential to the vision is a 10-year, $100 million program of investment and development that will double the number of UWS’s internationally benchmarked re search centres and accommodate an extra 8000 students.
The proportion of foreign students is predicted to grow from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.
UWS plans to bolster money making ventures such as its University College, which offers foundation and English courses to for eign students.
It plans to increase revenue from a software business, intellectual property products and licences, and residences and conferences.
The proceeds will be invested in research expertise and appointments, which will reap further dividends in the long term, Professor Reid said.
After three years of pain, brought about partly by the federal Government’s refusal to Index re current grants to the university (and others), the UWS board of trustees met last month to endorse a plan under which the institution would, among other things, develop surplus land as residential, commercial and educational hubs. This would give “an assured source of funds in perpetuity”.
To save money, two of the university’s colleges will be merged and Its 21 schools will be reduced to 16.
“This period between now and midyear is particularly difficult be cause this is when all the change proposals are going through,” Professor Reid said.
“By midyear, the decisions will have been made by the board of trustees [which] academic units will be merged. We do expect some opposition.”
Last week, at least 18 academic staff in the school of computing and information technology were made redundant because of a blow out in the school’s salary budget. These redundancies would not be the lasts Professor Reid told the HES.
“We’re containing the number of voluntary redundancies in science and there may be others ... But they will be voluntary.”
The university’s $9 million budget deficit would be turned around to a bankable surplus, possibly as early as 2007.
“What we’re going to see over the next two or three years is we’ll reap the fruits of what has been a very difficult process,” Professor Reid said.
The difficult process has brought out many dissenters, who accuse university management of not consulting over course changes or cancellations, of ignoring union issues even when they have gone to industrial relations courts, of silencing opposition and of punitive reprisals. Professor Reid rejected all the claims, which have come from students, academics and union officials in various parts of the university.
it is a “campaign of complaint from a small number of people who would prefer the status quo”, she said. As for consultation, there were two schools of opinion.
One says “enough talk, let’s see the changes”, the other says “we don’t want to see change until there’s been more consultation”:
“Sometimes people ask for consultation to go on much longer because that means there’s an inevitable delay in the implementation of what are really critical changes and developments,” Professor Reid said.
Separate to the 10-year plan but equally important to Professor Reid and the university is its medical school, the first for Sydney’s west, which is slated to open in 2007. The federal Government has con tributed a $25 million Infrastructure grant and the NSW Government has given $18 million in kind (a mix of facilities and clinical professorships). It is a coup for UWS, whose catchment area contains some of Sydney’s poorest suburbs.
“One of our purposes is to give an opportunity to students, particularly in western Sydney, who will train, stay and open practices or work in hospitals in the west,” Professor Reid said. “Having been a staff member in a medical school for 15 years, I would be immensely thrilled and proud when the first students walk through the door.”
THE University of Western Sydney’s main aims:
*45,000 students (now 37,000)
*15 per cent international onshore students (now 10 per cent)
*12 internationally recognised research centres (now five)
*Research output at double last year’s level
*Close to 1000 research students from 600 this year
*Possible HECS increase from 2006
*Increase self-generated income 40 per cent of revenue
*Greater emphasis on postgraduate courses
*Raise $10 million to fund services if VSU is introduced
*Investment of $50 million over 10 years in research staff and infrastructure
*Increase research income from $25 million per year to $45 million
*Scholarships worth $1.5 million each year from 2006 or 2007
*UWS intends to be known for its student support, under a motto of “putting students first”
