Indigenous students protested at the University of New England (UNE) in Armidale on September 12 after UNE management failed to adequately address their concerns and made decisions without consulting them.
Chanting 鈥淎bout us without us 鈥 Tell us why do you doubt us鈥, Indigenous students delivered their demands to UNE鈥檚 senior management at the Oorala Aboriginal Centre.
Less than a week after federal education minister Simon Birmingham urged universities to follow the example of Murdoch University in West Australia in terminating its enterprise agreement (EA), vice chancellors at another two universities launched actions designed to undermine staff unions and collective bargaining.
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) said the Fair Work Commission鈥檚 decision on August 29 to agree to terminate Murdoch University鈥檚 enterprise agreement (EA), which covers more than 3000 staff, is extremely disappointing but not unexpected.
The test for terminating an agreement is very low. The agreement must be past its expiry date, negotiations for a replacement agreement must have been unsuccessful, termination must not be against the public interest and it must be considered 鈥渁ppropriate鈥 to do so.
The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) released its long-awaited national report on sexual assault and sexual harassment at Australian universities on August 1. While much of the corporate media coverage deemed the results 鈥渟hocking鈥, they are not really surprising.
Members and supporters of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) rallied on July 4 outside the WA Fair Work Commission (FWC) in protest against Murdoch University鈥檚 application to terminate the union鈥檚 enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA).
After years of student and staff dissent about the presence of Broadspectrum on campus, University of Newcastle quietly announced it would be ending the contract at the end of this year, two years earlier than agreed.
The university had contracted Broadspectrum, formerly known as Transfield, to manage the facilities, waste and security on the Callaghan, Ourimbah, Port Macquarie and Sydney campuses.
Newcastle Students Against Detention (SAD) culture jammed the University of Newcastle鈥檚 rebranding launch on May 15, putting pressure on the administration to cut ties with Broadspectrum which runs Australia鈥檚 detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island.
The students were leaked the designs which they parodied to better reflect the University of Newcastle鈥檚 (UON) odious business ties, and stuck them over the official ones.
The rebranding focused on the word 鈥淣ew鈥, so SAD made posters stating: 鈥淣ew Abuses. New Human Rights Violations. Lose Your Ethics at UON.鈥
The University of Newcastle will cut its controversial $88 million contract with Broadspectrum, the company responsible for running Australia鈥檚 detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island.
A university spokesperson confirmed it had 鈥渞eached agreement鈥 with Broadspectrum to 鈥減rogressively transition out of the current maintenance and facilities services contract before the end of the year鈥.
Friends of Victoria University released this statement on April 19.
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Victoria University is planning to fundamentally change the structure of its workforce and radically alter the type of education that students receive.
Up to 115 academic staff will be sacked and replaced by 65 entry-level academic staff (Academic Teaching Scholars). These staff will have increased teaching hours and inferior retrenchment provisions so that they can be easily sacked should there be future cuts at VU.
Students and staff are celebrating the defeat of Sydney University鈥檚 attempt to cut semesters from 13 weeks to 12. After almost no consultation with students or staff, the university attempted to push through the move at the Academic Board meeting on March 28.
Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association (SUPRA) protested against the proposal and called on the board to vote "No". Overwhelmingly academic staff took this advice, with only management voting for the change.
The University of Melbourne has renamed the prominent Richard Berry building for maths and statistics after a long .
Until his retirement in the 1940s, Berry was Australia鈥檚 leading voice in the pseudoscience of eugenics, which aimed to produce a superior human race by having suitable people breed, while at the same time sterilising those with 鈥渞otten heredity鈥.
I teach at Victoria University, in the heart of Footscray. Footscray is an extremely vibrant and bustling suburb with an incredible population diversity, which is also reflected in VU鈥檚 student and staff population. This diversity is a real asset to our university and I feel privileged to be able to teach in such a unique environment.