The university is in ok-enough shape not to ask staff for COVID-19 concessions  

Vice Chancellor S Bruce Dowton tells the community that the university will be short $40m-$60m on teaching revenue this year and down up to $80m in total next, but he adds, “we are in a better immediate position than many other universities at this stage.”

And so, the university rejected the cuts to pay and conditions to protect jobs in the now not-proceeding national framework.

“Macquarie University does not intend to use these tools in managing the current COVID-19 circumstances, and so we do not feel it is appropriate to adopt the variation to enable them.

“I can also advise that we will not be proposing any alternative variations to our enterprise agreements in response to COVID-19. In making this decision, I recognise that our staff have worked extremely hard and have demonstrated immense resilience supporting the university to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The university is having a good semester, domestic enrolments are “slightly” up and international enrolments are at 90 per cent of target. But next semester, not so much, management expects to reach 50 per cent of international students, at best.