The Flinders U academic restructure will continue, with union and management agreeing on a process brokered by the Fair Work Commission.

What’s happening: VC Colin Stirling wants academic staff who do not meet research-active criteria to apply for teaching-specialist positions. In October management started the process, in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, and was met with adamant opposition from the campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union, which took  a dispute to the commission. (CMM October 2 and October 22).

The two sides have now agreed that the process can continue across the university, with new conditions. Staff will have a choice of asking for a move to either teaching or research focused roles. Any academic deemed surplus to requirements will have access to redeployment or voluntary redundancy. Teaching specialists will have “a reasonable workload allocation for maintenance of discipline currency and professional development.”

Where it came from:  From 2015. Professor Stirling told staff then that he wanted more academics in research or teaching roles and he has worked towards it ever since. The NTEU has been anxious to protect members – which makes yesterday a win for the union. But it also means the process to assign some academics to teaching-only roles will continue across the university.