La Trobe University management is circulating new workload guidelines which some staffers read as making research time dependent on outputs. This could mean academics who do not qualify for a full research day working wherever they like, being expected to be on campus five days a week. The issue came up in July, when college heads wrote to staff telling them they had to be on-campus Monday-Friday but university management backed off (CMM July 6 2018). But not to worry, the university says the new guidelines have nothing to do with where people work some of their required hours. “The new proposal is about the allocation of time against activity. It is not about where that activity takes place. The two are not in any way related,” a La Trobe U representative said last night.
Campus Morning Mail is an independent newsletter written and published by Stephen Matchett, formerly a long-serving journalist at The Australian newspaper. The daily e-news column receives no undisclosed funding or other assistance from any organisation or individual.
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