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³§²â»å²Ô±ð²â¡¯²õ Macquarie University plans to remove the equivalent of up to 60 full-time academic positions as part of a ¡°workforce realignment¡± designed to match activities to ¡°contemporary needs¡±.

The academic union says the ¡°brutal restructure¡± will ¡°drastically cut options for students¡±, with humanities and social sciences offerings ¡°sacrilegiously burned¡±.

Vice-chancellor Bruce Dowton said the proposed changes were primarily about focusing on ¡°the needs of today¡¯s students and employers¡± and investing in areas where the university could make a ¡°unique difference¡±.

¡°This¡­is about strengthening Macquarie for the future [by ensuring that] our education and research remain relevant, impactful and sustainable.¡±

The changes would deliver net savings of A$15 million (?7.2 million) in an institution that has just posted its third deficit in a row, and its fifth in six years. Staff have been given three weeks to comment on the proposals, which involve ¡°streamlining¡± the curriculum in the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science and Engineering.

They include ¡°resting¡± courses with declining or low enrolments and teaching out units with ¡°extremely¡± low take-up. New courses would be offered in ¡°key areas of growth and demand¡±, while some programmes would become majors or specialisations in other courses.

The proposals come after the university recently halted most casual recruitment in its arts faculty and ditched almost half its language programmes last year. They also coincide with current or recently concluded job cuts at about?nine other Australian universities.

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) said bachelor¡¯s degrees in archaeology, music and ancient languages would be scrapped, along with master¡¯s degrees in electronics engineering, ancient history and information technology. Sociology and ancient history would be ¡°decimated¡± and majors in politics, gender studies, criminology and psychological studies would no longer be available.

¡°The clear targeting of humanities and social sciences is an attack on the fundamental inherited legacy of human knowledge that charts over 2,000 years,¡± said branch president Nick Harrigan.

Macquarie¡¯s annual report says Australian enrolments in humanities disciplines such as history and literature decreased 35 per cent between 2013 and 2023. But ¡°society and culture¡± remains easily the university¡¯s primary area of teaching, accounting for more than one-third of its student load.

The NTEU says the proposals would cost at least 75 jobs, including 42 in arts and 33 in science and engineering. Harrigan said Macquarie¡¯s budget was ¡°more or less balanced¡±, with last year¡¯s A$4 million deficit well down on the A$82 million shortfall in 2023. While employee expenses increased by 8 per cent last year, core teaching revenue rose by about 20 per cent.

¡°This raises concerns that these cuts are really about targeting individuals management dislike, not actual business need,¡± Harrigan said. ¡°We have been stuck in an atmosphere of crisis since August last year when they attempted to sack 700 casuals.¡±

In October, Macquarie NTEU members passed a in the executive dean of arts, saying the faculty was ¡°forcing huge workload increases on permanent staff¡± by jettisoning casual roles. An NTEU warned that the faculty planned to cancel courses and majors and impose a compulsory first-year curriculum of eight units in every arts degree.

The petition said teaching was ¡°highly profitable¡±, and Macquarie management was seeking savings to repay more than A$800 million in debts accrued from building projects and the university hospital. Macquarie¡¯s 2024 annual report lists A$912 million in borrowings, up from A$781 million in 2023.

A Macquarie spokesman said while teaching was ¡°generally profitable, that was certainly not uniformly true across all disciplines and courses. The financial imperative to better align our staffing resources with¡­strong or emerging demand is quite independent of the university¡¯s debt position and these changes would be necessary even if the university had no debt.¡±

He said Macquarie¡¯s capacity to support low-enrolment courses was ¡°challenged¡± at a time of ¡°constrained funding for education and research, increasing policy uncertainty and significant change¡±, along with a need to ¡°renew its physical and digital environment¡±.

The spokesman said Macquarie¡¯s plan for a ¡°structured first year¡± was unrelated to the latest proposals. ¡°Students have [been] telling us that our degree structures are too complex [and] the range of units we offer can be confusing. They want to benefit from clearer pathways and more structured and meaningful choices.¡±

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com