The University of Wollongong (UOW) is set to cut more than 100 academic positions in a restructure the union fears could abolish its degrees in history, mathematics, geography and languages.

University management contacted 137 academic staff across 25 disciplines yesterday advising them of the start of consultation on the first phase of the restructure.

UOW said it expected to cut 90 full-time equivalent jobs to achieve a “recurrent saving” of $15–20 million.

The cuts are a response to the university forecasting a $35 million drop in revenue this year due to lower onshore international student enrolments.

The National Tertiary Education Union’s (NTEU) Damien Cahill, who is also a UOW alumnus, said the cuts were concerning.

“I think this will be a devastating blow to its reputation and its image,” Dr Cahill said.

“A university without a history department or a university that can’t properly teach maths or science.

“Cutting jobs in these areas and potentially cutting whole departments could have a serious impact on the university’s ability to continue to offer a broad range of subjects into the future.”

Jobs gone by Christmas

The cuts are expected to target subjects with low student enrolments. 

“There are some areas of the university with low student enrolment where we can no longer justify maintaining our current levels of staffing,” said UOW Interim Vice-Chancellor John Dewar.

The cuts are also expected across geography, physics, earth sciences, cultural studies and science and technology.

The union said 20 academics in the public health department were each included in the scope of the restructure, as was the entire history department.

Meanwhile, several streams of engineering are in line for cuts, which the union claimed would mostly impact female academics.

The NTEU said the redundancies were expected to be confirmed by December 20.

Professor Dewar said while some disciplines would be “disestablished”, others would be downsized or merged with other departments.

The union also expected cuts to professional staff to come in the new year.

Staff were informed of the looming redundancies a week before UOW opens its India campus in Gujarat.

Dr Cahill said the university had a “massive” offshore enrolment program and other avenues to recover funds.

“There are always other options,” he said.

‘Governance crisis’ 

The University of Wollongong is forecasting even greater drops in revenue next year when the cap on international student numbers is introduced.

UOW’s cap will be set at 3,700 students, which is 400 more students than are currently enrolled for 2024, but fewer than previous years. 

Dr Cahill said he was worried university boards with non-academic members would continue to look for the easiest way to recover the lost revenue.

“There is a real governance crisis at Australian universities,” he said.

“That undermines the ability of that institution to meet its public mission, which is teaching and research in the public interest.”

Accusations of ‘conflict of interest’ 

There are also concerns about the relationship between the consultancy firm hired to oversee the restructure, KordaMentha, and the interim UOW boss. 

KordaMentha was contracted to review UOW operations and people and culture in May.

In June the university appointed KordaMentha partner John Dewar as interim VC on a 12-month contract.

“We have essentially got a temporary fly-in, fly-out vice chancellor who is a partner in the firm that the university he runs has contracted to review the operations of the university,” said Dr Cahill. 

Mr Dewar said there was no conflict.

“I was not involved in the choice of KordaMentha as the consultants to do the work,” he said.

“I am not involved in their supervision. All of that is being done under the supervision of [the university] council.

“There is nothing being concealed here and the university has managed this issue with great probity.”