The University of the Sunshine Coast has a draft academic performance framework which some staff do not like, at all.

According to National Tertiary Education Union Queensland state secretary Michael McNally, “it does not reflect the reality of academic work, and creates unreasonable ‘minimum expectations’ that are punitive and will disempower academic staff. Members do not accept that the performance measures as expressed in the APF are achievable by the vast majority of USC staff.”

The union complains that proposed teaching requirements ignore discipline differences and do not all include “valid indicators of performance.” Among other faults research criteria are said to “focus solely on the amount of grant revenue that an academic staff member is successful in attracting. This is not an indicator of research performance, but an indicator of successful grant writing.”

The union says management has to try again but USC says it “has received comments from a number of sources” and the draft is still out for consultation.