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NTEU federal president Alison Barnes . Photo : James Croucher
‘ An avoidable catastrophe ’
New report lays bare the extent of job losses across the tertiary education sector .
By Conor Burke
The tertiary education sector has lost more jobs than any non-agricultural sector in the last 12 months , with almost one in five jobs lost in 2021 .
Analysis from The Centre for Future Work reveals the extent of devastation that the pandemic brought to the sector that already lost 17,300 jobs in 2020 .
In the period May 2020 to May 2021 total tertiary employment fell by 40,000 jobs , 90 per cent of which were full-time positions .
While there is no exact data for job losses between universities and TAFE , it is estimated that 5,000 of those lost were in the TAFE sector .
The job losses disproportionately affected women , with 60 per cent of job losses felt by women , more than their total share of total employment .
The tertiary sector is only feeling the full effects of the pandemic now , the analysis finds . Early on , universities did not significantly reduce staff due to uncertainty around how long the crisis would last .
However , it wasn ' t until well after the economy bounced back from the initial lockdowns of 2020 that universities started to cut jobs .
In the same 12 month period analysed , the national labour market created almost 1 million jobs .
Before the pandemic , employment in tertiary education had been growing yearly by around 10 per cent per year on average from 2015 to early 2020 .
The authors of the report , titled An Avoidable Catastrophe : Pandemic Job Losses in Higher Education and their Consequences , fear that the cuts will inevitably lead to larger class sizes and , therefore , poorer educational outcomes as well as further casualisation of the workforce .
They are also concerned the trend will continue " through the 2021 academic year and beyond ".
In response university staff launched a week of action over the cuts and the inevitable " brain drain " from the sector .
“ This report details the wholesale job destruction at our nation ’ s universities and the future consequences of the Federal Government just letting this sector drift ,” said NTEU National President , Dr Alison Barnes .
" How can Australian universities drive a national economic recovery if they are being drained of expertise and talent ?
“ This report finds job losses are getting worse , not better , as we go further into the epidemic ."
The Centre for Future Work believes that an injection of an extra $ 3.75 billion a year –
How can Australian universities drive a national economic recovery if they are being drained of expertise and talent ?
until " normal teaching and international education can resume " – from the Federal Government could stop the job losses .
Barnes said that compared to the JobKeeper program , which the university sector was excluded from , this figure would be a " modest and necessary investment ".
“ Every day I talk to early career academics in their 20s who rely on marking and tutoring work to supplement their PhD stipends so they can become the medical and engineering researchers of tomorrow ," she said .
“ We are losing a generation of researchers and teachers . It ’ s an incredible brain drain .
“ But worst of all , future students will miss out on a gold standard education system in which to thrive . That ’ s despite politicians telling us again and again that high-quality education and research is the most important human resource we have in this country ." ■
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