The union asked staff what they wanted the new VC to know

The campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union has sent VC Iain Martin the results.  Overall the survey shows that the Deakin U brand is in-line with the way staff see the university. Strengths they nominate include, innovative culture, student-focus, community and industry engagement, and “strong, responsive leadership willing to listen to staff and take on feedback.”

Some of the things they don’t like are not unique to Deakin, including what the union describes as “excessive casualisation of teaching work and exploitation of casual staff” and “unrealistic, unsustainable and excessive academic workloads”. Survey respondents would also like a review of the “efficacy” of the trimester system.

They are also point to areas as problems, that outsiders see as Deakin strengths, notably, “poor student culture and engagement, and an overemphasis on cloud teaching, which fails to live up to the ‘spin’.  “We need to invest in our teaching and support services to ensure we can support our students to succeed, and provide them with meaningful learning experiences while maintaining teaching quality and rigour,” the NTEU reports participants warning.