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I just got a very interesting email from Murdoch Student Guild:
The Murdoch University Guild of Students is officially launching its part in the Murdoch 2010 campaign!
Murdoch 2010 is the significant restructure that is currently taking place at Murdoch University, in order to help us come to terms with the deficit we are currently still facing. Murdoch 2010 includes the change from Divisions to Faculties, a desperate advertising campaign, the downsizing of casual staff, redundancies, and the obvious potential cutting of courses/units.
After a semester of questioning the University, by a very concerned Guild of Students, in order to gather as much information as we possibly could about 2010, and to try and have the student voice included, we have continued to hit a brick wall. The attitude of the administration seems to be that 2010 does not concern students. We want to stress that Murdoch Guild is not in opposition to the entire 2010 project - we are generally in favour of implementing new systems, and the change from divisions to faculties. We realise that Murdoch is in a diabolical financial predicament. We also realise that this predicament is essentially caused by a lack of funding to the higher education sector. However, the management of Murdoch University have not been able to deal with this problem, and things have gotten worse. Murdoch 2010 is a necessary change - Murdoch does need to implement new systems and restructure - essentially, we are in opposition to the way the 2010 process has been carried out, with next to no bona fide information being disseminated to students, and next to no consultation with students. This has given us little to work with.
What we do know:
* the main impetus for Murdoch 2010 is the $16.5 million hole the University is in.
* staff are being cut, and there are more dramatic cuts to come (this includes the university not renewing the contracts of many casual teaching staff - ie. your tutors).
* our Vice Chancellor is one of the highest paid in the country - over $700 000 a year, while our staff remain the lowest paid out of the WA public universities, and we are undertaking a significant restructure and laying off of staff because we have a lack of money.
Our demands are as follows:
The Murdoch University Guild of Students is officially launching its part in the Murdoch 2010 campaign!
Murdoch 2010 is the significant restructure that is currently taking place at Murdoch University, in order to help us come to terms with the deficit we are currently still facing. Murdoch 2010 includes the change from Divisions to Faculties, a desperate advertising campaign, the downsizing of casual staff, redundancies, and the obvious potential cutting of courses/units.
After a semester of questioning the University, by a very concerned Guild of Students, in order to gather as much information as we possibly could about 2010, and to try and have the student voice included, we have continued to hit a brick wall. The attitude of the administration seems to be that 2010 does not concern students. We want to stress that Murdoch Guild is not in opposition to the entire 2010 project - we are generally in favour of implementing new systems, and the change from divisions to faculties. We realise that Murdoch is in a diabolical financial predicament. We also realise that this predicament is essentially caused by a lack of funding to the higher education sector. However, the management of Murdoch University have not been able to deal with this problem, and things have gotten worse. Murdoch 2010 is a necessary change - Murdoch does need to implement new systems and restructure - essentially, we are in opposition to the way the 2010 process has been carried out, with next to no bona fide information being disseminated to students, and next to no consultation with students. This has given us little to work with.
What we do know:
* the main impetus for Murdoch 2010 is the $16.5 million hole the University is in.
* staff are being cut, and there are more dramatic cuts to come (this includes the university not renewing the contracts of many casual teaching staff - ie. your tutors).
* our Vice Chancellor is one of the highest paid in the country - over $700 000 a year, while our staff remain the lowest paid out of the WA public universities, and we are undertaking a significant restructure and laying off of staff because we have a lack of money.
Our demands are as follows:
- Open Books! – Full and accurate information on the 2010 project: Students get nothing but corporate management speak when they ask anything about 2010. It is an insult to the entire University. Students (and staff) have been left in the dark as to exactly what 2010 entails. We demand that Murdoch open its books, as it has become evident (expensive television ads, expensive 2010 project, and an expensive Vice Chancellor) that Murdoch does have some money, but for some reason it is not being spent on our education. This is our university, and we have a right to know what 2010 is and what our money is being spent on!
- My Murdoch, My Future! – real student consultation on course and unit cuts: Under the 2010 plan, schools and faculties will be forced to 'perform or perish', meaning that some of the least-profitable units may be cut. There should be real student consultation with all students on all possible cuts. This university belongs to all of us - we have a right to shape the direction it is going in, and have a say in the future of Murdoch University!
- Staff cuts should start at the top! - the students of this University demand the V.C. John Yovich be held accountable for Murdoch's predicament: Why is the university planning to cut the jobs of those staff who are most integral to our education, while the Vice Chancellery continues to get pay rises? Our Vice Chancellor is the highest paid VC in the country in terms of total student load and in terms of total staff payroll. If jobs have to be cut, let it be those positions that are the least beneficial to our education - and make those at the top accountable for the financial mess Murdoch is in. Let the next job cut be that of the Vice Chancellor!
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