Macquarie U invites science staff to consider their future, somewhere else

Business academics aged 50-65 at Macquarie U have had a chance consider voluntary early retirement  CMM March 11). The opportunity will open for science faculty staff at the end of month, but only some. The university is quite specific on who it wants gone, including – people without external research grants or who have not been “recognised for teaching excellence” in the last three years or whom the university has not assessed as “research productive.”

The emphasis on current research funding strikes some as tough. “With an average of 80% of staff unsuccessful each year with their ARC applications, targeting staff using such criteria will only lead to additional workplace stress,” a learned reader remarks.