At UNSW, some 741 FTE positions are occupied by 5 846 individual casual staff members

And VC Ian Jacobs wants to celebrate them all.

“Whilst I recognise the challenges of employment that not everyone can always rely on I also think that this is a great way of making sure that our universities are really well linked into the workplace, and a way of allowing our PHD students to supplement their income.

“We should celebrate the opportunity for our universities to reach out into the workplace, into professional roles, and get the input from those people into the education that we provide,”the VC  told a NSW Legislative Council committee last week.

Employment “that not everyone can rely on” rather reduces the celebration.