With an enterprise deal finally done at Murdoch U, higher education administration and governance consultant Andrew Dempster says WA’s public universities “made solid gains” on key issues, in the now complete enterprise bargaining round including:

academic workloads and teaching flexibility: the four “now have some of the most flexible teaching delivery arrangements in Australia” with increases in permitted teaching hours

clearer change management procedures: simple consultant-then-implement processes are now in place at all four

span of hours for professional staff: professional staff at UWA, Curtin and now Murdoch can be rostered on between 6am to 8.30pm. as student need demands

conduct reviews: committees considering discipline and performance matters are either reigned in or replaced by an independent reviewer