Federation Uni backflip over decision to scrap Arts degrees following protest by NTEU staff

By CHRISTINE LAI

Federation University has backflipped over its decision to scrap Arts degrees and reinstated them after facing criticism from staff and students at the university.

The decision of the reversal comes a week after staff and students were told that the Bachelor of Arts (BA) program would be axed from 2023.

Humanities degrees have fallen victim to hiked fees initiated by the former federal government in 2020 under the Job Ready Graduates packages where the cost for a three-year humanities degree has since jumped from $20,400 to $43,500. Professor Wendy Cross looked at the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic to explain the decline in domestic and international student enrolments and the university’s previous decision to axe all Arts courses.

“Student commencements have fallen from 83 in 2018 to just 27 in 2022,” she said.

The university currently runs the Bachelor of Arts programs at several campuses including Berwick, Gippsland, and Ballarat. Federation Uni fell under criticism for announcing the closure of the BA program due to a failure to consult with the Union, staff, or students.

Acting Vice-Chancellor Liam Sloan confirmed the BA program would continue in 2023 in a statement on Friday morning.

“We will review the BA to ensure it is fit for purpose to be delivered as part of our Australian first co-operative education model, for regional students wanting a head start on a successful career and for regional employers wanting graduates primed for the workplace,” Sloan said.

NTEU Federation University Branch President Dr Mathew Abbott praised the union’s win and stated that the pushback in support of Arts degrees was proof of “what can be achieved when we stand up to bad decisions from rogue Vice-Chancellors.”

When asked about Federation Uni staff’s response to the initial plans by management to axe Arts degrees, Dr Abbott said that they found out “last week via individual staff members being told that they had uncertain futures as a result of the imminent closure of the Bachelor of Arts from all locations.”

He said that it was “unusual for management to close the BA” while criticising the lack of warning given, stating that staff were told “the euphemism of an uncertain future which really means ‘up for redundancy’”.

The idea of a university getting rid of its Arts program altogether, in one fell swoop produced community outcry because most people understand how central the Bachelor of Arts is to a modern university.

“The decision clearly went against community values, the wishes of students and clearly went against the wishes and values and expertise of staff as well.”

NTEU Federation Uni Vice-President Verity Archer praised the collective action by workers at the university to win the BA a week after the news had first broke.

“Working together, union members, staff, students, and the community have achieved a major win. There are no problems facing our society that can be addressed without input from the humanities and social sciences,” Archer said.

Last November, Vice-Chancellor Duncan Bentley announced a comprehensive restructure of Federation Uni which planned to have six academic Schools collapsed into three “Employment and Start-Up Centres,” while Deans would be replaced by “CEOs.”

“Ordinary people can see that a university is not a private corporation. Universities should not operate on the same principles and priorities as the private sector, so this idea that a university should rename its institutes as employment and start-up centres came as a shock to a lot of people,” Dr Abbott said.

“Just like the cut of the BA, the corporate rebranding gives a sense of the values and priorities of our Vice-Chancellor.”

“There have been several cuts, restructures and rounds of redundancies at Federation Uni over recent years,” said Dr Abbott, referencing the Institute of Innovation, Science and Sustainability, which currently has 15 full-time equivalent positions up for redundancy.

Dr Abbott praised the successful union campaign and community outcry which pushed back the ‘corporate rebrand’ attempt and condemned management for “using the Covid-19 crisis as an excuse to push through vicious neoliberal programs.”

“The only way that universities can start to get back on the right set of footing is through rank-and-file activism, through mass recruitment into the NTEU, and through aggressive bargaining campaigns and industrial action,” he said.

Dr Abbott referenced the ongoing industrial action occurring at the University of Sydney as an example of rank-and-file organising in the fight for better wages and working conditions. USyd staff will be striking for 24 hours on Wednesday, 17th August, with key concerns including pay rises above inflation and the end of forced redundancies and casualisation.

Federation Uni has just begun its bargaining campaign, with a focus on job security and reducing workload for academics. The drive to efficiency by management has “undermined job satisfaction of workers” and hyper casualisation in the workplace has had a “negative impact on the sustainability of the institution,” Dr Abbott said.

He looked to the reinstatement of the BA program as a marked strength of the union, asserting, “It’s really important for us politically, to score a win like this right now. It’s going to boost the confidence of members going into bargaining because it shows when we come together, we can get results.”