The university was firing, now its hiring

Griffith U is, “seeking motivated and high performing individuals to join our team.” In particular GU wants people experienced, “in delivering complex, large-scale organisational change outcomes with a focus on the people related aspects of successful transformation.”

They will work on implementing the Roadmap to Sustainability plan, which sets out a transformed structure. When, originally announced the plan was for 299 jobs to go, and for restructures in administration and changes in “academic activity,” (CMM November 3).

And lest anybody assume it was an over-reaction to COVID-19 R2S (as management names it) is blunt about the need for change. “At a whole-of-institution level, Griffith has a higher ratio of professional to academic staff and appears over-resourced across professional service functions relative to comparable institutions across the sector.”

Plus, “Griffith is relatively over-indexed on teaching design, development and delivery and teaching administrative functions relative to other universities.”

The plan does not include the university “exit a discipline” but there will be a thousand plus changes to courses, planned to, “release over 51,000 teaching hours through rationalising or remediating reviewed underperforming course instances.”

The unspecified number of jobs the university is now recruiting to work on the restructure are for a maximum 12 months and the PD includes a bunch of requirements – but not one which successful applicants will probably need, a thick skin when it comes to dealing with upset staff.