05 December 2008

Invitation to Friends of VU

Friends of VU are invited to attend both events.
A giant picket will be formed around the University at 2.30 pm at Footscray Park Campus following the stop work meeting and a bus will be available to take people into the city for the Council Meeting Protest.


STOP WORK MEETING
Date: 8 December 2008, Monday
Time: 1.00 pm
Place: D231, Footscray Park Campus

NON-VIOLENT PROTEST
Date: 8 Dec 2008, Monday
Time: 4.30pm
Place: VU City Campus 300 Flinders Street.

Please make every effort to be there. VU Staff needs our support.

NTEU stop work meeting and half day strike Monday 8th Dec

STOP THE SACKINGS - VU STAFF DEMAND RESPECT

Last week NTEU members at VU voted overwhelmingly (98%) in favour of taking industrial action.

The NTEU has imposed work bans at 9.00am on Monday 8 Dec, with a strike and stop-work meeting starting at 1pm, so that staff at VU send a strong message to VU senior management.

We want real job security - not mass staff sackings.

Job security and no net job losses are important parts of the NTEU claim to get a new and improve Collective Agreement. Instead of delivering on these issues, VU management has decided to sack over 270 staff without consultation. Tell VU management to negotiate with your Union in good faith.

STOP WORK MEETING

Date: 8 December 2008, Monday
Time: 1.00 pm
Place: D231, Footscray Park Campus

www.universitybargaining.com.au

Latest News on Retrenchments

As you read this, the Vice-Chancellor and her leadership team are finalising their lists of names for the first round of forced redundancies.

On Monday 8 December, an unknown number of VU Staff will each receive an invitation to a meeting with our supervisor.

It has become apparent, however, that the likely targeted redundancies will fall well short of the projected 150 academic redundancies that management appeared to want, again because they are finding it difficult to match staff with unprofitable units.

Further retrenchments of General Staff and TAFE staff will occur in the New Year. The University has also announced that in addition to range of further strategies to reduce the number of targeted redundancies for Academic staff.

A voluntary redundancy program will be announced. This represents some mitigation of the targeted retrenchment process which has been put in place; however, targeted redundancies, possibly still in large numbers may occur.

Music Courses closed down at Sunbury campus

In the first wave of announced cuts to courses, the Vice-Chancellor has formally withdrawn the following courses from VTAC..

Bachelor of Music (Performance)
Bachelor of Music (Technology)
Bachelor of Science (Computer Science and Aviation)

These courses will have no intake in 2009. The cut to the Bachelor of Music degrees at Sunbury campus is particularly significant because it will effectively ‘cut-off at the knees’ a major pathway used by TAFE students in the Diploma of Music to reach Higher Education .

The NTEU has already received a number of reports of aggrieved students who are finding it very difficult to find an alternative destination to finish their qualification, if at all. The West and outer West also remain arguably poor in terms of venues to study the performing arts and this loss will further impoverish the limited range of music offerings available to residents in the west.

Cuts to postgraduate courses are also on the agenda, many of which are fee-paying and profitable. Units of study are also under scrutiny. However, it remains to be seen which courses and units will be cut.

The fiction that VU has a ‘long tail’ of small unprofitable units is proving just that and the University’s razor gang is finding it very difficult to find courses and units which meet their closure criteria.

The Vice Chancellor has also ruled out in a recent meeting with the NTEU that profitable courses would be cut. We wait with interest therefore to see what will be cut and will keep you informed as we are updated.

04 December 2008

SHOW US RESPECT, SAY VU STAFF

SHOW US RESPECT, SAY VU STAFF

http://www.nteu.org.au/news/current/untitled_3
MEDIA RELEASE
2 December 2008

Staff at Victoria University will be taking industrial action on 8 December, following overwhelming support in a secret ballot last week.

The NTEU today announced plans for a strike and work bans, unless the University demonstrates a new attitude to staff demands.

“Strike action at Victoria University could be averted if Vice-Chancellor Elizabeth Harman suspends the planned mass-sackings over Christmas and comes to the bargaining table in good faith,” said Matthew McGowan, Secretary of the NTEU Victorian Division.

NTEU members voted overwhelmingly to authorise industrial action, with the Australian Electoral Commission announcing the result yesterday. The first round of industrial action will take place on Monday 8 December. A mass meeting of NTEU members on that day will consider recommendations for subsequent rounds of industrial action, including further strike action in December.

“As we head into the holiday season, there are over 270 staff at Victoria University that won’t be celebrating. We have been trying to get the university to bargain for a new collective agreement since May this year, but their response has been to engage in delaying tactics,” said Mr Richard Gough, President of Victoria University NTEU Branch.

“University senior management can end this dispute today by treating staff with the dignity and respect they deserve. We are calling on Professor Harman to end the forced redundancies and come to the bargaining table ready to negotiate a new collective agreement that would ensure that there would be no forced redundancies for the life of any new agreement,” Mr Gough said.

“If these redundancies go through, students will come back next year to the worst class sizes and student-teacher ratios in Australia,” he said.

In a recent NTEU survey of higher education staff which asked whether staff had confidence in the administration, Vice-Chancellor Harman and the senior management at Victoria University rated worst in the state. 94 percent of staff did not have confidence, compared to a 72 percent state average. 95 percent of VU staff did not consider themselves to be respected or valued at work, compared to a 76 percent state average.

Monday 8 December Strike

Staff at all campuses of Victoria University will be taking lawful industrial action, including strike action and the imposition of work bans, on Monday 8 December. There will be a stop-work meeting at 1pm at the Footscray Park campus, which will consider further industrial action.

For more information:

Matthew McGowan, State Secretary, NTEU Victorian Division 0417 054 110

Richard Gough, President, Victoria University NTEU Branch 0418 102 547

http://www.nteu.org.au/news/current/untitled_3

Industrial Action at VU 08 December 2008

Dear students,

As you may be aware, the National Tertiary Education Union has called for its members to take industrial action next Monday 08 December 2008.

I do not anticipate that there will any direct impact on students during Monday morning, but some staff may not be present on campus on Monday afternoon which may have an adverse impact on some aspects of University services.

While VU respects the right of staff to take protected industrial action, we regret any inconvenience that may be caused to students.

Regards, Stephen
Stephen Weller
Pro Vice-Chancellor Students
VICTORIA UNIVERSITY 03-9919-5460
stephen.weller@vu.edu.auwww.vu.edu.au/people/stephenweller

02 December 2008

The 7.30pm Report - ABC

To watch this report please click the link below
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/

Universities announce staffing cutbacks amid funding crisis

Three Melbourne universities have announced staffing cutbacks and are predicting more in the new year. Universities say they are struggling to compete internationally, after enduring cutbacks in funding for more than a decade.
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/

Note: Thanks to JS for forwarding this information: There was footage from the first VU community meeting in Footscray on the 7:30 report last night. A great extract from Scott's speech (very powerful), a sound bite from Jamie, some of the Mayor's opening comments and David and Tom in the background.

14 Vice-Chancellors

An extract. For full media release go to
http://www.vu.edu.au/About_VU/Media_Releases/Statement_by_fourteen_Vice-Chancellors_of_Australias_non-aligned_universities/indexdl_94600.aspx

Statement by fourteen Vice-Chancellors of Australia's non-aligned universities before the Bradley Report
24 November

Fourteen Vice-Chancellors have issued the following statement in advance of the report of the Australian Government's Review of Higher Education (Bradley Report) due in December 2008. This includes Professor Elizabeth Harman, Vice-Chancellor, Victoria University.

As the Vice-Chancellors of fourteen non-aligned Australian universities, we keenly anticipate both the upcoming report of the Bradley Review of Higher Education and the government's response.

The Bradley report and its recommendations will require testing through analysis, elucidation and critique. We look forward to a future government plan for the tertiary education sector that is equitable, visionary and sustainable.

Note: to read the rest go to http://www.vu.edu.au/About_VU/Media_Releases/Statement_by_fourteen_Vice-Chancellors_of_Australias_non-aligned_universities/indexdl_94600.aspx

Statement by fourteen Vice-Chancellors of Australia's non-aligned universities before the Bradley Report

Statement by fourteen Vice-Chancellors of Australia's non-aligned universities before the Bradley Report
24 November

Fourteen Vice-Chancellors have issued the following statement in advance of the report of the Australian Government's Review of Higher Education (Bradley Report) due in December 2008. This includes Professor Elizabeth Harman, Vice-Chancellor, Victoria University.
As the Vice-Chancellors of fourteen non-aligned Australian universities, we keenly anticipate both the upcoming report of the Bradley Review of Higher Education and the government's response.

The Bradley report and its recommendations will require testing through analysis, elucidation and critique. We look forward to a future government plan for the tertiary education sector that is equitable, visionary and sustainable.

As the leaders of universities comprising a critical mass of Australia's Higher Education sector, we stress that it will be imperative in the post-Bradley period that the policy debate about universities be set in the interests of the sector as a whole, not any of its particular components.
A future Higher Education policy that does not deal adequately with all universities will be one that disadvantages a significant number of students, Australian and international, future teachers and health professionals, Australia's underprivileged, rural and metropolitan regions and Indigenous people.

The Tests for the Bradley Review report and the government's response
Our universities are crucial to Australia's Higher Education system and to the workability and equity of any future policy prescription applied to that system. We will assess the Bradley report and the government's response against the three fundamental imperatives of:

  • social inclusion;
  • education and training for a skilled and professional workforce;
  • support for research with impact.

Social Inclusion
Australia's non-aligned universities have long been institutionally committed to providing more opportunities to those who are doing least well, whether these are students facing social or economical disadvantage, regional and rural students, Indigenous students, older Australians seeking essential skills and learning, or students with a disability.


The same principle underlies the Commonwealth Government's most basic educational policies.

Our universities will look to the Bradley report and the government's response for:

a. major improvement in the support of students, such as extensions of living and accommodation scholarships and greater student income support;
b. systemic change ensuring that funding for teaching and learning takes account of the likely learning support needs of the students educated by each university to support equitable outcomes for students from different backgrounds; and
c. avoidance of proposals that have the practical effect of reducing access to or funding of higher education for the disadvantaged and marginalised.

Education and training for a skilled and professional workforce
Universities are Australia's major sources of skilled, flexible, creative labour. Our universities are the Universities of Work: they have a particular capacity to produce an immense variety of work-ready, internationally recognised graduates. Our graduates are trained to meet both their own expectations of employment and their employers' expectations of quality across all regions of Australia.

Our universities will look to the Bradley report and government response for concrete means to:
d. strengthen the contribution of industry and employers to universities; ande. support those universities with an institutional emphasis upon ensuring the fitness of graduates for employment and life-long adaptability as working professionals.

Research with impact
Research is fundamental to all universities, but types of research do and should vary, from the pure or abstract to the applied and engaged. Our universities' research is heavily weighted to research for deployment in partnership with industry, government and communities. It works towards social, technological, health and other practical outcomes, with significant regional, national and international impact, in fields such as health and well-being, technology, education and social inquiry.

Hence, we believe research should be funded on the basis of its quality, with strong support for research with demonstrated meaningful application.
f. Our universities will look to the Bradley report and government response for concrete means to support strong research funding for research that engages with current industry and community need.

Why non-aligned universities matter
The non-aligned universities comprise a real and varied collectivity of students, staff and associated communities. These universities in 2007:

  • Enrolled 376,017 students, representing 38% of the national total, more students than any of the formal interest groups;
  • Enrolled 38%of all international students;
  • Earned $4.8 billion, being 28% of Australian university revenue;
  • Taught 51% of teacher education students and 53% of nursing students;
  • Taught 46% of lower SES students;
  • Taught 57% of regional students and 45% of remote students;
  • Taught 43% of indigenous students; and
  • Taught 39% of students with a disability.
Conclusion
The Bradley Review of Higher Education is vital to Australia's future. As fourteen Vice-Chancellors from the non-aligned universities which make up a significant part of Australian Higher Education, we look forward to its constructive recommendations to ensure our institutions can continue to meet the needs of all Australians and our international students.

Note on Data:
The data cited refer to all universities which are not members of the Australian Technology Network, the Group of Eight, or the Innovative Research Universities Australia.
The data are drawn from:Finance 2007: Selected Higher Education Statistics, DEEWR 2008, http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/higher_education/publications_resources/profiles/Finance_2007_stats.htm
Students 2007 [full year]: selected higher education statistics, DEEWR 2008 http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/higher_education/publications_resources/profiles/Students_2007_full_year_.htm

The fourteen Vice-Chancellors and universities are:
Professor Greg Craven, Vice-Chancellor, Australian Catholic UniversityProfessor David Battersby, Vice-Chancellor, University of BallaratProfessor John Finlay-Jones, Acting Vice-Chancellor, Edith Cowan UniversityProfessor Helen Garnett , Vice-Chancellor, Charles Darwin UniversityProfessor Liz Harman, Vice-Chancellor, Victoria UniversityProfessor Bill Lovegrove, Vice-Chancellor, University of Southern QueenslandProfessor Bill MacGillivray, Acting Vice-Chancellor, Southern Cross UniversityProfessor Sally Walker, Vice-Chancellor, Deakin UniversityProfessor Stephen Parker, Vice-Chancellor, University of CanberraProfessor Alan Pettigrew, Vice-Chancellor, The University of New EnglandProfessor Jan Reid, Vice-Chancellor, University of Western SydneyProfessor John Rickard, Vice-Chancellor, Central Queensland UniversityProfessor Paul Thomas, Vice-Chancellor, University of the Sunshine CoastProfessor Ian Young, Vice-Chancellor, Swinburne University of Technology
Professor Elizabeth Harman, Vice Chancellor, Victoria University will be available for comment in relation to this statement, from Thursday 27 November 2008

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