The job-cutting restructure at UWA rolls on with the campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union asking which staff, and how many, are at risk

The NTEU announces an FOI application for the university to reveal restructures to come and the reasons for them. ““Staff do not know which areas are going to be cut next, or on what basis” UWA union president Sanna Peden says.

The FOI follows uproar over the university’s plans for the School of Social Sciences, which effectively ends teaching  in anthropology and sociology as independent disciplines (CMM July 12).

Vice Chancellor Amit Chakma may have already said as much as the university will before exits are announced.  Most of the university’s 21 schools will make required savings by attrition and early retirement but seven or eight will have a formal job loss process by year end (CMM July 16).

Professor Chakma has long argued UWA needs to reduce spending by $40m to deal with a structural deficit- which creates a question the NTEU could add to its FOI – why $40m? As James Guthrie, argues CMM there are positives in the university’s finances.