Lionel Newman: Project Manager's update

Project Manager's update on outcomes of initial consultation phase

The consultation period in respect of the measures outlined in the Vice Chancellor's 17 October announcement 'Course Rationalisation, Staff Redundancies and Financial Sustainability' concluded 14 November.

Staff feedback was received via a broad range of consultative mediums. Feedback received included both opposition and support for the measures, concerns about possible course closures, and suggested strategies to mitigate potential redundancies. Strategies staff felt should be considered included more effective utilisation of our existing teaching capacities, a reduction in the use of sessional, contract and casual staff, and alternative separation strategies, such as voluntary redundancies, pre-retirement contracts and a voluntary early retirement scheme.

Feedback from staff has been considered and the University is committed to mitigating the impact of possible redundancies by reducing its use of non permanent staff where appropriate. The extent to which we can do so will be determined by the skills and experience required to deliver our continuing educational programs.

The feasibility of offering alternative separation options is currently being examined by our HR department and agreed measures will be announced as part of detailed Change Plans for the three categories of staff, HE Academics, VE/FE teachers and General staff. Timings are set out below.

Higher Education Change program

Further work is being conducted over the next few weeks to determine non viable HE courses and units, the HE academic positions that maybe excess to requirement, and the mitigation strategies. It is the University's intention to announce these details in a HE Academic Change Plan in early December.

The planned timeline is to:·

• Advise all staff on 8 December which HE courses and units are proposed to be discontinued.·
• Begin a two week consultation process from 8 December to further discuss proposed course and unit changes.
• Advise affected academic staff from 8 December in writing, and wherever possible in person, of the intention to make their position excess to requirement.
• Undertake a two week consultation process with affected staff from 8 December to discuss mitigation strategies and the available separation options that apply to them.
• Advise staff of the outcomes of consultation processes relating to both courses and units and staff redundancies.

Vocational & Further Education and General Staff Change Programs

The process of identifying savings in VE and FE has also commenced and is examining both the viability of courses and units and the effective use of existing resources. We expect to have a clearer indication of the proposed savings measures by mid- December.

Meetings are planned with the managers of corporate and support services in early December to discuss the principles and processes to be used in determining the scope of savings measures for General staff.

A benchmarking exercise will also be conducted to identify better practice in the field of corporate support structures to inform decision making processes.

More information on change plans for VE/FE and General staff will be announced over the next few weeks.

Lionel Newman
Project Manager

Vice-Chancellor's Video Blog

This is a video message from VU Vice-Chancellor Liz Harman

Dear colleagues,

Recognising this is a period of great uncertainty and stress, I speak to you for five minutes in today's VOD. Please be patient as the file is large and will take about 20 seconds to load.

http://tls.vu.edu.au/vcblog/index.html
(If the above link does not open directly from your email, please cut and paste the link directly into your web browser).

An update on the current status of the Course and Staffing initiative from the Project Manager follows below. (Note from blogger: Im blogging it separately. Check next blog)

Regards,
Liz Harman.

FRIENDS OF VICTORIA UNIVERSITY

MEDIA RELEASE
19 November 2008

FRIENDS OF VICTORIA UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY GROUP FORMS

Friends of Victoria University officially formed tonight following the University's controversial campus closures and job cuts.

Raoul Wainwright and Broden Borg were elected as inaugural co-convenors.

Friends of Victoria University is a broad coalition of community members in the West, including Melton, Sunbury, Werribee and Footscray, as well as staff and students.

"There is a great deal of concern out in the community about the direction that Victoria University is headed," said Raoul Wainwright, a resident of Yarraville.

"Friends of Victoria University will hold Victoria University accountable to the original vision of a community university that serves the West. Victoria University needs to show that it is still committed to the West," he said.

Broden Borg, a resident of Melton, one of the communities that will be affected by Victoria University's campus closures said: "Victoria University has held a central role in Melton and the West. We are very disappointed that the University management has decided to close Melton and Sunbury without consulting the communities."

"In the long-term, we hope that we will be able to work cooperatively with the University senior management. In the short-term however, we want senior management to know how valuable and loved VU is in the community – something they seem to have forgotten at the moment," said Mr. Wainwright.

Friends of Victoria University endorsed the National Tertiary Education Union's campaign promoting job security and collective bargaining.

For more information contact:
Friends of VU co-convenors
Raoul Wainwright
Broden Borg

Note: When the contact info is available I will update it.

Protest over more Victorian universities job cuts

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24676219-12332,00.html
Andrew Trounson November 20, 2008
Article from: The Australian

an extract... for full article click on the above link

INDUSTRIAL unrest at Victorian universities is set to worsen after La Trobe University warned staff that voluntary job cuts weren't meeting targets, raising the prospect of compulsory layoffs.
In response the National Tertiary Education Union has accused the university of accelerating the pace of previously announced savings targets.

Today hundreds of university staff across the Victorian sector will hold a public protest in Melbourne. The NTEU has accused vice-chancellors of acting prematurely in seeking to cut jobs when a funding boost from Canberra is expected following the release of the Bradley Review next month.

Over 470 administrative and academic jobs are on the block in Victoria as universities get squeezed by chronic government under-funding with indexation at only half the inflation rate.
Tumbling investment income is also set to hit well-endowed institutions, while growth in offshore student revenue is expected to slow.

But the NTEU is angry that universities are choosing to cut staff while still funding instrastructure expansions.
"In an environment when we are expecting increased funding from the federal government, the moves to cut staff is premature,"

At Victoria University vice chancellor Liz Harman is facing a revolt over job cuts with the NTEU set to strike next month after the job cut soured stalled enterprise bargaining talks.

NTEU Media Release 20 Nov 2008

UNIVERSITY STAFF DEMAND MORE INVESTMENT,
HALT TO SACKINGS

MEDIA RELEASE
20 November 2008

Over 80% of staff in Victorian Universities believe that the sector is underfunded, and while a similar percentage of academic staff expressed the view that educational quality has suffered from funding limitations. These findings are part of a survey of University staff conducted by the National Tertiary Education Union over the past 2 weeks.

University staff from around Victoria will be rallying today calling on the Federal Government to turn around the decade long decline in public funding to universities and to call on universities to suspend any redundancies and job cuts until after the outcomes of the Bradley Review have been announced.

“It is about respect” said Matthew McGowan, Secretary of the NTEU Victorian Division. “After over a decade of hostility from the Howard Government, some universities have forgotten what collegiality means. Universities should be demonstrating best practice in employee management, not worst practice.”
The NTEU survey measured staff attitudes towards university management, Federal Government funding and the Bradley Review. The survey of over 3,300 staff found that most staff believe that:

Universities have become worse places to work over the past two years;
Funding limitations has negatively affected the quality of education at universities;
Universities are more concerned about gaining income than on outcomes for students;
Vice-Chancellors and senior management do not respect or value university staff; and
Universities should wait until after the Bradley Review is completed before making staff cuts.

“The Federal Government is also on notice. Universities are in dire need of increased public funding to undo the damage that has left Australia as one of the worst investors in higher education in the OECD,” he said.
Rally details

Today, Thursday 20 November, 11am
Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins St, CBD

For more information
Alex White, NTEU Communications Officer, 0403 694 397, awhite@vic.nteu.org.au

VU quashes student accommodation rumours

http://www.vu.edu.au/About_VU/Media_Releases/VU_quashes_student_accommodation_rumours/indexdl_94435.aspx
Media Release
18 November 2008

Victoria University's Pro Vice Chancellor - Students, Mr Stephen Weller, said today that he was outraged about malicious rumours surrounding the future of student accommodation at Victoria University.

He said: "I can categorically state that students residing at Sunbury Hall and the Student Village in Maribyrnong have absolutely no need to worry about where they are going to live."
"Contrary to spiteful and inaccurate speculation, there has been no decision made in relation to the future of accommodation at Maribyrnong. In the case of the future of accommodation at Sunbury - that will be determined in parallel with decisions around the future of that campus - but at this stage we expect no changes to occur until at least the end of 2010."

"Recent assertions have caused distress to students living at these residences and this is unconscionable."

"VU is looking to increase the amount of accommodation available to students in the vicinity of its campuses, and to that end in July we sought expressions of interest for the provision and management of accommodation from potential, financiers developers and operators. We have had more than twenty expressions of interest and these are under consideration."

"The University provides accommodation for 500 students at Maribyrnong and 120 students at Sunbury."

"Far from cutting back on accommodation, the University has recently taken a head lease of a development of some 60 units on Ballarat Road."

"We want to set students minds at rest in relation to accommodation at Sunbury Hall and the Student Village at Maribyrnong."

"For the students who are living in the University's student accommodation, I want to make it absolutely clear that we have no plans to make any changes to accommodation arrangements and no one will end up without a roof over their head."

Media Contacts:
Ms Christine White, Media Manager,Marketing & Communications Department, Victoria UniversityPh: (03) 9919 4322; mobile: 0434 602 884
Andy Gash, Snr. Media OfficerMarketing and Communications Department, Victoria UniversityPh: (03) 9919 4950; mobile: 0411 255 900

Victoria Uni closure rally

http://moorabool-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/victoria-uni-closure-rally/
Moorabool Leader
Local News
13 Nov 08 @ 11:00am by Billy Crossland


ABOUT 50 students, staff and community members have rallied against the closure of Victoria University’s Melton Campus. The protest at the campus on Thursday followed public outcry over VU’s decision to close it and the Sunbury campus.

It was organised by education student Broden Borg, who addressed the crowd.
“The decision by VU to close this university has seen them fail in their commitment to provide tertiary education to the west,” he said. “The (university) council has put an economic rationalist need ahead of the community of Melton’s need.”

Certificate three disability student Cloie Robinson finished her course this year, hoping to go on to higher studies. But said she was having second thoughts. “Some people can’t afford to get into the city and this campus is bringing money down here and bringing more people to this area,” she said.

The protest was also attended by several members of the National Tertiary Education Union.
The union’s VU branch president, Richard Gough, said he was concerned about the future of sacked staff and the impact of the closure on the region.

“Obviously these campuses are part of a growing region of Melbourne and we think they have a future,” he said. “As part of our protest and our concerns we are here to support people in the Melton community as well as our members.”

VU has said the campus was not attracting students, operated at a higher cost per student than bigger campuses and was unlikely to reach a viable size by 2031.
Moorabool Council has condemned the decision and is calling on VU to extend courses offered at the campuses.

SPECIAL VU COUNCIL BRIEFING – 17 NOV 2008

"MORE CLASSES NOT MORE CUTS!"
[non-violent protest]

Agenda: “Courses and Redundancies”
Date: Monday 17 November 2008
Time: Meet at 5pm (5:30pm Council Meeting Begins)
Place: VU Footscray Park Campus - 227 Ballarat Road
Council Chamber, Level 6, Building K

On Monday 17 November, Victoria University Council will again be meeting to vote on the sacking proposal, campus shut downs and the relocation of student housing. A staff, student and friends of VU 'welcoming committee' has been set up to 'welcome' Council members before the meeting in the hope of it persuading members to vote against the proposals. Student support and solidarity on Monday is very much needed as it may just provide a back-bone to some members and apply some more public pressure to VU management.

For more information write to VU Student Action Group vu_sag@yahoo.com

If you are interested in attending the Council's meeting as an observer, please contact Lyn Duffy to request for an Observer's Pass: Lyn.Duffy@vu.edu.au