Campus Review Vol 30. Issue 06 | Page 4

news campusreview.com.au ‘Not going broke’ La Trobe denies ‘going broke’ as unis face $16 billion shortfall. La Trobe University has hit back at claims that it’s “at risk of going broke in a matter of weeks”. In a recent article, The Age reported that the university was in dire straits – with cash reserves reduced to the minimum required to meet a single month’s operating expenses – unless it secured a financial lifeline from the banks and an agreement from staff to cut wages. In a statement, La Trobe said the “broke” line was incorrect. “The university is not at risk of going broke,” it said, adding it was in ongoing discussions with its three banks for increased facilities needed in the short term. The article was based on vice-chancellor Professor John Dewar’s presentation to staff on the university’s financial situation. Dewar detailed the need for the Australian Universities Job Protection Framework, telling staff that without it the university would have to make positions redundant in order to balance the books. “Without it, we will need to borrow significantly to cover the costs of redundancies, which will saddle the university with more debt than would otherwise be the case, assuming we are able to extend our borrowings,” he said. Later Mark Smith, the university’s chief financial and operations officer, told staff that La Trobe was looking at a $400 million to $520 million revenue variance to 2022. Smith said the university has made cost savings of $87 million in 2020 and expects to make $70 million in 2021 and $50 million in 2022, and that its voluntary redundancy program will deliver savings of $20 million in 2020 and $40 million in 2021 and 2022. He added that the job protection framework measures are expected to deliver savings of $16 million in 2020 and $32 million in 2021. Still, the university will run at a loss this year. And it’s not alone – Universities Australia has warned that the nation’s institutions could lose $16 billion in revenue between now and 2023. The peak body’s chief executive, Catriona Jackson, said the sector can’t pretend that the coronavirus pandemic won’t have a big impact. “Until now, universities have been increasing their investment in research and innovation,” Jackson said. “The danger is that if universities are unable to continue funding this activity, Australia’s ability to innovate its way out of the COVID-19 recession will be severely hampered. You can’t have an economic recovery without investing in research and development.” ■ 300 jobs to go Deakin VC flags job losses as unis sidestep union deal. Deakin University’s vice-chancellor has flagged with staff that hundreds of positions will be slashed as the university maps out the economic damage of the coronavirus pandemic. In a town hall meeting, Professor Iain Martin said the institution would not sign up to the National Tertiary Education Union’s job protection framework and instead was looking at 300 redundancies and cutting 100 vacant positions. Martin said the union’s framework would constrain Deakin’s ability to decide what’s in the best short, medium and long-term interests. “Our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is not going to be a V-shaped one,” he added. “The approach we are proposing, combining debt and cost savings, will ensure that Deakin is in the best position to preserve as many jobs as possible in the medium term, rather than simply seeking to get to a notionally balanced budget over the next 12 months. “We have an enterprise agreement that underpins the vast majority of employment contracts at Deakin, and we see no need to change this to enact measures included in the framework such as stand‐downs, forced leave, forced reduction of hours, across-the-board pay cuts of up to 15 per cent and deferral of incremental progression that we have no desire to implement.” Deakin expects its operating revenue to fall by between $250 and $300 million in 2021. Martin said: “As a university, we spend 55 per cent of our total revenue on staff. While we will do everything possible to minimise staff impacts, we must look at our employment costs as well as continuing to minimise other expenditure to adjust to where we need to be.” Deakin’s NTEU vice-president Stephen Davis said the university’s workers were “collateral damage” in efforts to meet a balanced budget. “It’s incredibly disappointing that the university has chosen to sack people like this,” Davis said. The union’s national office said the move could have been prevented if the minister for education, Dan Tehan, made JobKeeper available to university workers. NTEU’s national president, Dr Alison Barnes, said: “The government found $60 billion behind the couch on Friday and on Monday more than 300 people are going to be out of work.” Deakin said it would have a staged approach to staff reductions. “I acknowledge again that managing 2020 and the next 2–3 years is about far more than money, but without a solid and sustainable financial position we will not be able to make the impact-generating contributions that will be needed across our communities,” Martin said. Deakin is not alone in its decision to sidestep the union’s deal. At least 17 other universities have turned it down. ■ 2