University of Southern Queensland to lay off 259 FTE jobs

Staff at the University of Southern Queensland have been told there will be job losses numbering into the hundreds, as well as a restructure of the organisation. DETAILS.

University of Southern Queensland Vice-Chancellor Karen Nelson said significant financial pressures driven by rising costs and a shifting funding landscape was behind staff cuts at the university.

The University of Southern Queensland has confirmed it will shed 259 full-time equivalent jobs as it works to plug a multimillion-dollar budget blackhole.

Confirmation of the extent of the job cuts came after staff were told at a meeting last week that the university would merge its 12 schools, nine research centres and its Pathways College into eight schools.

In a statement provided to The Chronicle, Vice-Chancellor Karen Nelson said the university was navigating significant financial pressures driven by rising costs and a shifting funding landscape.

“To thrive in an evolving higher education landscape, we must align our workforce and operations to meet the changing needs of our students, communities, and industries,” she said.

“We are proposing a transformation program to secure long-term financial sustainability following three consecutive years of deficits.

“We must create financial capacity to support our degrees, research, and the technologies that will drive innovation.”

USQ Toowoomba Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic): Karen Nelson

Of the 259 full-time equivalent jobs that will go, 109 were the result of redundancy and pre-retirement payout issued at the end of 2024.

The remaining 150 FTE jobs will be decided on in the next six months.

It is understood that about 100 of those positions will be from professional jobs, while about 50 will be academics.

The university has been running a deficit for the past two financial years and burned through about $75m of its cash reserves.

Professor Nelson said the university would start by offering voluntary redundancies.

“No final decisions have been made,” she said

“We are committed to consulting with and supporting our staff and engaging with our students as part of a staged consultation process that won’t be finalised until October 2025.

“The transformation aims to position UniSQ as a stronger and more agile university, ensuring we continue to deliver world-class education and research that supports our students, local industries, and communities.”

Like all Australian universities, UniSQ has been hit hard by inflation, while it is also grappling with reduced full-fee paying international student numbers.

It is also one of many laying off staff.

The University of Wollongong has confirmed it will cut about 10 per cent of its workforce, or 180 jobs, while the University of Canberra is cutting 200 jobs, the University of Technology Sydney will cut 200-300 jobs and dozens of jobs will go at James Cook University.

Melbourne’s La Trobe University is set to lose about 55 jobs.

The National Tertiary Education Union said it had pushed back against the UniSQ job cuts and merging its schools.

“It is only very recently, in 2022, that the university reorganised the schools, (only) for them to be reorganised yet again,” UniSQ branch president Andrea Lamont-Mills said.

“We are going back to the future.

“We cannot see how this rearranging of the deck chairs will achieve the savings they will require, or how losing 150 FTE jobs will allow the university to maintain its core functions in teaching and research.” 

Originally published as University of Southern Queensland to lay off 259 FTE jobs