There will be bad news after today

The university expects to know more about its financial position after student census date, today.

“We do not yet have a clear picture of what will happen in second semester, but we expect it to be worse than this one in terms of a decline in student numbers, and all of this will flow into first semester next year,” Vice Chancellor Margaret Gardner told staff in an Easter-eve message.

And so, she got down to it, “we began this unusual year with a plan to avoid redundancies and to try to keep the momentum that we’ve built over previous years.

“This is still our goal, but it is dependent on the extent of the downturn in second semester. There are other measures we can take to help us over this year, but if current measures are not enough, these other measures will involve talking to all of you about what we can do to keep people employed, because they will also involve changes to staff employment arrangements.

“And to answer the inevitable question, neither I nor the senior executive will be exempt.”

Professor Gardner is a member of the group of vice-chancellors that met the National Tertiary Education Union to discuss jobs and conditions, which are codified in enterprise agreements last week.