17 October 2008
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) today called for the Vice Chancellor of Victoria University to resign. The Union was responding angrily to an announcement by Victoria University of a plan to sack more than 250 staff.
“This announcement is outrageous, and puts the University’s future at risk” Matthew McGowan, NTEU Victorian Division Secretary, said today. “If there are to be job cuts, Liz Harman should be in front of the line.”
“Given the size of the University, this is the largest redundancy announcement in Australian university history. The University management must be held to account for this disaster. Both the state and federal governments must intervene to protect the future of education in the western region of Melbourne.”
The Vice Chancellor’s announcement to staff today stated that the reason for slashing staff is to provide “…the means to invest in new facilities, infrastructure, and services to meet the growth demands of the western region of Melbourne.”
Mr McGowan went on to say, “It is not buildings that teach students, it is people. This announcement puts the future education of students in the Western region at risk for a capital program to be delivered at some stage in the future, while we are about 3-6 months away from new government funding announcements.”
“It is just not good enough.”
A survey of Victorian University staff conducted by the NTEU in November 2007 found Victoria University management has one of the lowest levels of support of staff compared to other university managements in the state.
The NTEU will call meetings of staff for early next week to consider the responses of the Union to the announcement.
For further information: Matthew McGowan, NTEU Vic Division Secretary 0417 054 110
Media enquiries: Michael Evans, NTEU National Organiser 0418 241 664
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