A Message From the VC

Dear Colleagues,

Today’s update from the VC will address two important Government announcements:

1. New Capital Funds for VU and
2. Update on Bradley Report


1. New Capital Funds for VU
The Prime Minister today has announced major infrastructure investments over the next year. These involve major investment of $1.58 billion in tertiary sector infrastructure, including $10.5 million (and more) specifically for Victoria University.

Firstly, $580 million has been allocated to eleven projects from the Higher Education Investment Fund. VU did not submit for this round but is looking to put the St Albans development into the second round next year.

Secondly, a further $500 million will be allocated to Universities based on their proportion of domestic higher education student load. VU will receive $10.5 million through this to spend on teaching and learning infrastructure.

Thirdly, a further $500 million will be allocated for infrastructure for vocational education and community education providers, including an element specifically targeting TAFEs for maintenance backlog expenses and competitive applications for additional capital funds for emerging training needs or to address green skills requirements.

These additional amounts are a further valuable investment from the Government which will help us renew the buildings we work in and the teaching facilities we use. It is important to realise these funds are provided to support capital projects and as such do not reduce our Budget challenge to bring our annual underlying expenditure into line with our annual revenue and produce reasonable surpluses.


2. Update on Bradley

We have also been told that the report of the Review of Higher Education (Bradley Report) will not be released until next week. This is despite the briefing provided to The Australian as reported in today’s paper. I need to see the full report before responding in depth to the proposals so far outlined so we can understand the full context in which they have been made.

As reported we will have to compete even more intensely for HE students, as well as VE and FE students. This is because the number of HECS funded places will no longer be “capped” for each University. An important element as reported, however, is that student charges will remain capped so we compete on a fairly even basis with the other Universities – in terms of the “price” of HECS places.

The option of mergers has been raised by an announcement by Charles Sturt University and Southern Cross University, with more mergers expected. We know the challenges of providing multi campus education. If there are options for integration we will have to look at them on their merits for the capacity to improve the education and training provided to the west of Melbourne and Victoria more broadly.

Incentives for Universities to enrol more students from low socio-economic backgrounds remains firmly on the agenda, and we will keep you informed as information comes to hand as to how this may benefit VU and our students.

Liz Harman
Vice Chancellor
Professor Elizabeth Harman
Vice-Chancellor and President Victoria University
emailto:elizabeth.harman@vu.edu.au
Web http://www.vu.edu.au/

Universities to merge in major overhaul as Bradley review recommends vouchers

Luke Slattery and Andrew Trounson December 12, 2008
Article from: The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24788101-12332,00.html

UNIVERSITIES will be merged, a national voucher system introduced and incentives given to enrol students from low socio-economic backgrounds under recommendations being considered by the Rudd Government.

The reforms, which are understood to be contained in a 200-page report to Education Minister Julia Gillard by former University of South Australia vice-chancellor Denise Bradley, would consolidate the prestige metropolitan universities while leaving the future of several outer suburban, regional and remote campuses in doubt.

In anticipation of Bradley's recommendations, two NSW institutions, Charles Sturt University and Southern Cross University, yesterday announced they would merge to form a new national university based in regional Australia.

The two regional universities said they would be the foundation partners in a new national venture triggered by consultations for the Bradley review.

In a prepared release, the two said: "With an expanded course profile and increased investment in digital technology, the new university would improve the accessibility of professional education in its regions and nationally. Consolidation of its research programs will bring increased innovation of particular relevance to regional Australia."

The Bradley review, commissioned in March, is understood to recommend new measures to integrate the vocational training and higher education sectors in order to boost participation among lower socio-economic groups.

Vouchers - or student learning entitlements - represent a radical shift to a student-centred funding system that no government of either political persuasion has been ready to accept. Students could take vouchers to any university that would admit them.

A voucher scheme would introduce flexibility and a potentially better match of courses to students' first choices, but it would also draw students away from less popular universities.

A student-centred approach could also potentially allow more widespread provision of public funding to recognise private providers, as occurs in the vocational education and training and schools sectors.

However, it is understood that the voucher scheme recommended by the Bradley review would not extend to price deregulation.

The reforms are understood to include measures to protect the $13 billion export education program - Australia's third-biggest earner after iron ore and coal and potentially its biggest if the resources boom goes bust.

A new national accreditation agency is also believed to be among Bradley's recommendations. It would challenge some universities to prove they were worthy of the name.

Education Minister Julia Gillard yesterday would not be drawn on the implications of the budgetary stresses on the Government's response to the Bradley review, which she said would be made in February.

"Everybody is aware that these are difficult days as a result of the global financial crisis," Ms Gillard told reporters.

But she said fast-tracked infrastructure funding for the sector was on its way as part of the Government's overall infrastructure spending plans.

"The Government is intending to fast-track an infrastructure announcement - the Prime Minister has made that clear - and that infrastructure announcement will include infrastructure in higher education."

The sector is awaiting the results of the first $304 million funding round from the newly created $8.7 billion Education Investment Fund.

Victoria has been pushing for a more student-driven demand model for universities, in line with its controversial TAFE reforms under which both public TAFEs and private providers are eligible for public funding.

Southern Cross University vice-chancellor Paul Clark told The Australian yesterday that his merger with Charles Sturt was aimed at boosting flagging higher education enrolments in regional Australia, and Professor Bradley was "personally quite supportive of the way in which we want to go".

Professor Clark said Ms Gillard had already asked the pair to submit a commonwealth grant application for a feasibility study to advance the initiative to the next stage.

"They have dentistry and pharmacy and veterinary science; we have law and forestry so there's complementarities," he said.

Professor Clark "pretty much" ruled out forced redundancies as a result of the merger, saying the plan was about growth.

In a separate development, the Government yesterday released $111.5 million to fund specific programs at universities under the annual disbursement of the Diversity and Structural Adjustment Fund. About $206 million has now been disbursed from the fund, reducing it to about $75million.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24788101-12332,00.html

Universities ready to spend $1bn

Andrew Trounson December 12, 2008
Article from: The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24789948-12332,00.html

UNIVERSIITES are vowing to start spending almost immediately some $1 billion in fast-tracked infrastructure funding from Canberra.

After months of intensive lobbying, the sector has received an early Christmas present from the Rudd Government with $500 million in one-off funding for teaching and learning infrastructure, of which much will go into refurbishing facilities built during the 1960s and 1970s.

"This will be a significant boost for the construction industry and it will have a real impact on the economy," said Paul Johnson, vice-chancellor at La Trobe University and an expert on economic and social development.

The higher education infrastructure funds are part of a nation-building exercise as the Government attempts to head off a severe economic downturn.

Canberra has also increased by $276 million the amount of funding for new projects under the Education Investment Fund, and will now fund 11 of the 14 short-listed projects at a total cost of $580 million.

There is a one-off injection of $500 million for vocational education and training infrastructure, of which $400 million will be made available to public TAFEs and a further $100 million for other not-for-profit providers of adult and community education. With most of the additional funding coming outside the $8.7 billion EIF, universities hope there will be significant ongoing money for infrastructure.

The sector believes it is facing a total backlog in infrastructure spending of $10 billion-$15 billion.

“These funds will have a tangible and almost immediate impact on our universities,” RMIT vice chancellor Margaret Gardner said in a statement on behalf of the Australian Technology Network of universities.

“It's welcome, it's unexpected and it can be put to good use immediately,” Professor Gardner said. The funds will be available from 1 July. The $500 million one-off funding for universities will be allocated according to student load, while research intensive national university ANU will receive an additional $10 million top-up.

The funding comes on top of the $500 million Better Universities Renewal Fund distributed earlier this year. Of the 14 short listed projects under the EIF, the three that missed out were Murdoch University's "pedagopolis" education facility, ANU's giant Magellan telescope and Ballarat's innovation and enterprise centre.

The biggest winner was Sydney University's new Centre for Obesity, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease, which was awarded $95 million. Next in line were $90 million for Melbourne's Peter Doherty Institute for Immunity and Infection and $89.9 million for Monash's New Horizons Centre for science and engineering.

Friends of Victoria University Website

Friends of Victoria University has their own website with lots of good and up-to-date information.

Please put the website on your favourite page and check it regularly for updates.

http://friendsofvu.org.au/

NTEU end-of-year party

NTEU end-of-year party

Date: Monday 15 December
Time: 1.00 pm
Place: Riverview Function Centre, Footscray Rowing Club.

Community members and members of Friends of Victoria University are welcome.

Come and have a great end-of-year party with your friends on the banks of the Maribrynong at the NTEU and Friends of VU Christmas party: dancing, food, great conversations.

Victoria University offers voluntary redundancies

Andrew Trounson December 11, 2008
Article from: The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24784840-12332,00.html

VICTORIA University has delayed any forced redundancies into next year, instead launching a voluntary redundancy program.

Vice-chancellor Elizabeth Harman has suggested that total job losses could be less than first anticipated as management looks to cut sessional and contracting staff while seeking other savings beyond staff cuts.

The National Tertiary Education Union is now claiming a partial victory for its campaign against VU's plans to cull up to 270 people, claiming that the university hasn't been able to find the redundant staff it had been expecting.

“They went searching for a tail of short courses and units and found that the dog didn't have a tail,” NTEU branch president Richard Gough told The Australian.

But Professor Harman said forced job losses were still a possibility next year, with management's work with consultants Ernst & Young to identify non-viable courses and surplus staff simply taking longer than expected to complete.

“This isn't the end of the story,” Professor Harman told The Australian.

“We are still going to end up with staffing changes.”

But Professor Harman said management had identified more than $10 million worth of annual savings from expected voluntary departures, cuts to sessional staff and other savings in higher education. However, that is still short of her total savings target for higher education of $16.5 million.

Mr Gough said any compulsory sackings next year would spark industrial action under the current enterprise bargaining talks.

VU has identified 140 higher education courses and 500 units that it will discontinue or phase out next year, reducing the total offering to around 200 courses and 1,700 units. Mr Gough said many of these course were already being taught out or had fallen into disuse, which is why management had failed to find significant redundancies from them.

VU is looking for further course cuts, including shedding the teaching of languages other than English, with the exception Vietnamese, for which VU is the only provider nationally.

Professor Harman said the cuts would allow VU to redeploy resources into high demand areas like teaching, business, accounting, and nursing.

In October, Professor Harman shocked staff with plans cut up to 150 higher education academic staff to secure $16.5 million in savings. A further $8.5 million in savings has been targeted from up to 100 job losses in administration, and a further $2 million in savings from about 20 job losses in TAFE.

The announcement, which had been formulated without consulting the union, angered the NTEU and worried local politicians. But while Professor Harman admitted that the communication strategy could've been better, she said the announcement had “focused minds” and there was now a renewed focus among deans and school heads to find savings while minimising job losses.

“Minds are now very focused,” Professor Harman said.

“The savings actions now being proposed by higher education faculties are deeper and wider than throughout 2008 when the budget depended on higher education productivity gains that didn't materialise.”

She said “the last few months have been a hard process at VU and I wouldn't be the only person disappointed in that we haven't succeeded in making sure all our staff fully understand what we want to do.”

“I'd have preferred to have had better communication strategies out there.”

Indeed management and the union still remain at loggerheads over the need for staffing cuts. Professor Harman says the cuts are needed to stave off looming deficits and in the wake of the failure of past productivity drives. But the NTEU believes VU is overstating the urgency, which it says is being exacerbated by the cost of the redundancies themselves and the university's construction plans as it reconfigures its spread of campuses.

The NTEU has called for an independent party to give a view on the university's situation and Professor Harman has agreed to consider it in further talks with the NTEU.

Mr Gough said the union wanted to “look for solutions that don't require targeted redundancies but still leave the university in a sustainable position”.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24784840-12332,00.html

24 HOUR STRIKE ON MONDAY 15 DECEMBER

NTEU members vote to take strike action!

24 HOUR STRIKE ON MONDAY 15 DECEMBER

The meeting of NTEU Members on 8 December voted unanimously for "A 24 hour strike commencing on Monday 15 December, to involve pickets on higher education campuses and a boycott of the Vice‐Chancellor’s end of year party to coincide with a rank‐and‐file end‐of‐year staff party — come and celebrate the end of the year with your friends and colleagues at Footscray Rowing Club!"

All members of NTEU are encouraged to participate in the picket lines and to join us at the alternative staff party on 15 December.

http://www.nteu.org.au//bd/vu#a34197

Stopwork Meeting 8 December 2008

Stopwork Meeting 8 December 2008
The NTEU Stopwork Meeting passed the following motions:

1. That this meeting condemn:
• The unnecessary decision of the Vice‐Chancellor to continue to proceed with her program of forced redundancies;
• The ongoing failure of VU Council and senior management to consult with staff before implementing major decisions and failure of senior management to manage the University properly;
• The complete lack of respect shown by senior management for the hard working staff of Victoria University; and
• The complete disloyalty shown by management to the University in seeking to destroy Victoria University and education in the western region.

Carried unanimously

2. That this meeting endorse the NTEU’s Enterprise Bargaining log of claims, particularly its claim for job security with no forced retrenchments.

Carried unanimously

3. That this meeting endorse the following actions by NTEU Members in pursuit of a new Collective Agreement at Victoria University. Unless and until such an Agreement is reached, the Union should implement these actions over the coming weeks:

• Comprehensive bans on Making VU, including all course reviews which involve incorporation of any of the five commitments, professional development associated with Making VU, attendance of cluster meetings and attendance of any seminars associated with Making VU;
• Bans on contribution to VU’s Higher Education Research Data Collection processes, including faculty and school level processes;
• Bans on contribution to VU’s course and unit management systems, including the CAMS process and related reporting activities;
• Bans on any recording, or transmission to the University, of assessment results for University Summer School units; and
• A 24 hour strike commencing on Monday 15 December, to involve pickets on higher education campuses and a boycott of the Vice‐Chancellor’s end of year party to coincide with a rank‐and‐file end‐of‐year staff party — come and celebrate the end of the year with your friends and colleagues at Footscray Rowing Club!

Carried unanimously

4. That this meeting call on the National Office and Victorian Division of the NTEU to establish a subdivision of the National Defence Fund to help support staff and their families taking even more forceful industrial action in the New Year.

Carried unanimously

5. That this meeting supports the general campaign against senior management’s proposed round of redundancies in their entirety.

Carried

http://www.nteu.org.au//bd/vu#a34197

Update on Plans for a Sustainable VU, Tues 9 Dec 2008

Update on Plans for a Sustainable VU:

Course rationalisation, staff redundancies and financial sustainability

Tuesday 9th December 2008

Dear Colleagues,

I am sure that you are looking forward to the break in a few weeks time. The advice in this email should give you a better sense of the situation at this stage on VU’s major sustainability initiatives so you can organise the rest of your year with some peace of mind.

I have listed the headlines for you to skim - with web links for the detail on those aspects that interest you most.

• Council last night approved the 2009 Budget and $27m in savings
• Progress on savings in HE continues while building on our strengths
• Changes to HE courses and units are now in a HE Change Plan
• HE staff separations have been extended to voluntary options
• Other savings measures
• HE Change Plan has now been released for discussion (attached)
• Meetings on FE, VE and HEW staffing are going ahead
• VU is turning its attention to the Bradley Report, expected soon

Council last night approved the 2009 Budget and $27m in savings

The budget approved last night will be a key document for use by everyone in 2009. For full details on the Budget, including my Introduction, refer to: http://intranet.vu.edu.au/Finance/pdf_files/2002_budget_draft4Feb/2009BudgetDocument.pdf.

We still have a lot of work to do together on the savings plan in the first few months of the New Year. While some non salary savings have been identified, the bulk of the $27m will have to come from savings in employment costs.

A special Sustainability Office is being established to work with managers across VU on both staffing changes and other savings initiatives. At Council’s request we will then be providing Council with detailed advice on the strategies that are linked to the full $27m at the April 2009 Council meeting.

Progress on savings in HE continues while building on our strengths

The process to identify savings has continued in Higher Education over recent weeks.

Firstly, we have had to face and to address the limitations in our data on HE units, courses and staff workloads. Secondly, senior staff members have been working closely to address these challenges and produce the HE Change Plan. Thirdly, there has been an unfortunate coincidence of timing with external commentary about the future of HE in Australia. This has added to

speculation and anxieties of some of our staff. The conversations will be better informed when the Bradley Report, now imminent, is made public.

Changes to HE courses and units are now in a HE Change Plan

The HE Change Plan advises which courses and units we propose to discontinue from 2009.

The proposal to discontinue from 2009 approximately 140 HE courses and over 500 units is just one step in our efforts to focus our teaching and staff resources on VU’s strengths. This still leaves over 200 courses and over 1,700 units of courses and units that remain on VU’s books for students to take. I am talking to ERB about the progress we have made and what else needs to be done on Wednesday.

The massive task undertaken over the past two months to assess the viability of every HE unit and course will now form the basis for the creation of a Course and Unit Management System that will be used to maintain a sustainable teaching profile in HE. The system will be managed centrally by the PVC (IS).

HE staff separations have been extended to voluntary options

We have not yet made the progress we need to make to reduce our staffing costs because of problems in compiling accurate data about HE staff and their individual workloads. This work is continuing. Feedback from the HE Faculty leadership, staff and the President of the VU Branch of the NTEU, Richard Gough, has suggested that voluntary separation options and other savings measures be considered to mitigate the need for as many targeted redundancies. This request has been agreed to and therefore no targeted HE academic redundancies will be made in 2008. The NTEU has been informed of our progress.

Details of separation options available to eligible HE staff are described in the HE Change Plan and will be available on the HR intranet site from tomorrow. Eligible HE academic staff will be invited to submit an EOI to separate from the University. Please note that EOIs need to be submitted by 16 January; affected staff will be notified of the outcome of their EOI by 2 February 2009.

Other savings measures

Other savings strategies are being explored by the three Executive Deans and their staff, including the cost of sessional staffing (estimated at $12m in 2008) and changes in teaching practices (eg tutorial sizes and time-tabling). All strategies are to be set out in Internal Partnership Contracts (IPCs) with itemised savings for 2009 at the level of each Faculty and its Schools.

And in addition, we are improving our data collection, with workload data of each HE academic will henceforth be collected on a central data bank, as well as in their Schools.

HE Change Plan has now been released for discussion

The purpose of the HE Change Plan is to inform staff of the scope of the changes proposed under the first phase of 2008 Plan for a Sustainable VU and to provide staff with the opportunity to comment on the proposed actions over the next two weeks. The HE Change Plan can be accessed at: http://intranet.vu.edu.au/wp/sustainablevu/Documents/ChangePlan.pdf.

The release of this document begins a 2 week consultation period with staff, between now and 23 December. We invite feedback on the plan, including courses and units and mitigation strategies. I encourage you all to read the Plan carefully and let your views be known by sending your feedback to ProjectManager@vu.edu.au.

Meetings on FE / VE and HEW staffing are going ahead

Following the changes in HE positions, change plans for VE / FE and HEW staff will be developed. Principles and processes for the change process for HEW staff will be agreed with managers in December. Meetings are now being organised to begin discussing the process for reducing employment costs and other savings initiatives in these areas. FE /VE and HEW Change Plans will be distributed as the next step in the consultation process for staff in these areas. A date will be set for issuing these plans following these consultative processes.

VU is turning its attention to the Bradley Report, expected soon

Colleagues, we are all acutely aware that staff members across VU are facing uncertainty and the events of the past six weeks have been particularly hard in the HE faculties. The process is nonetheless giving us a much clearer picture of our course strengths as well as the contributions made by so many of our staff. We are building VU’s financial fitness for a future shaped by contestability, the Bradley Report and global economic change. We will issue a VU comment on Bradley developments as soon as these are known.

I thank staff members across all parts of VU who have helped as we have developed a clearer picture of our teaching and research strengths.

Together, we will ensure that VU has the resources we need to offer the right courses from Certificate to PhD, at the right campuses, with the right staff – for VU students.

Liz Harman

Vice Chancellor

Web http://www.vu.edu.au/

Today Monday 8 Dec

My thoughts are with all the VU Staff today as some will be receiving news about their employment status. It will be a difficult time for many.

Please know that there are many support groups out there in the community and within VU. These are some services that are available to staff

COUNSELLING SERVICES FOR VU STAFF
Confidential and independent counselling and other services are available to all staff of Victoria University through the Employee Assistance Scheme (EAP).

As an employee of the University you can access short-term assistance for work-related or personal issues that may be affecting your ability to function at work.

An important aspect of the EAP is that it is private and confidential. Everything discussed in the sessions is kept between you and the consultant you speak with, and your details will not be passed on to anyone at Victoria University.

Staff can ring the EAP provider OSA Group on 1300 361 008 any time of the day.
http://www.vu.edu.au/Current_Students/Support_Services/Counselling_Services/Staff/Counselling_for_Staff/index.aspx

CHAPLAINCY
Staff and students of all beliefs or no faith background are invited to visit the chaplain or the Reflection Centre. We are pleased to meet Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims and everyone from all walks of life. Everyone is accepted as important and valued as an individual.

Chaplaincy is a caring presence to support you on your journey. The chaplain will companion you with a listening heart and compassionate spirit and to journey with you in times of loneliness, struggles/tragedies, difficult times, study/work pressures, pains/worries, relationship/family concerns, spiritual or faith matters etc. She will be happy to share your stories of joys, surprises, discoveries, dreams, creativities, talents/gifts and your value of self-worth and meaning in daily events.

You are invited to meet Sister Catherine, chaplain, at the Reflection Centre (Footscray Park Campus Building M Room 229, St Albans Campus Building 1L Room L101) or at her office (Building 4 Room 134N) Should you wish to have a private appointment please telephone 9919 2292, or 99192399 or email catherine.tay@vu.edu.au
http://www.vu.edu.au/Current_Students/Support_Services/Chaplaincy/index.aspx

DEPRESSION
If you are feeling depressed, please call and talk to someone at
Beyond Blue
Information Line 1300 22 46 36
http://www.beyondblue.org.au/index.aspx?

NTEU Press Conference

NTEU State Secretary Matthew McGowan will hold a media conference outside Victoria University at 2:45pm on Ballarat Road outside the main Victoria University campus at Footscray Park.

Where: Corner Ballarat Rd and Hoadley Ct, Victoria University, Footscray Park Campus
When: 2:45pm today, Monday 8 December 2008

Media Enquiries
Alex White
Communications Officer
0403 694 397

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

Victoria University Staff Stop-Work and Strike Today

NTEU members at Victoria University will be taking strike action today, Monday 8 December from 1pm, commencing with a stop-work meeting.

Staff are engaging in protected industrial action to secure a new collective agreement.

Staff are unhappy at Victoria University over the drawn out negotiations with senior management for a new collective agreement, the lack of respect shown by Vice-Chancellor Elizabeth Harman towards staff, and the controversial 270 forced redundancies.

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