Queensland University of Technology’s new recruitment policy slammed

A senior academic has slammed a major Qld university’s move to “move away from the merit principle” and use an “inclusive suitability assessment” model for recruitment, saying teaching staff are “appalled and flabbergasted”.

A Queensland university will revamp its recruitment policy to “move away from the merit principle” and use an “inclusive suitability assessment” model instead.

But a senior academic says teaching staff have been left “appalled and flabbergasted” by the draft overhaul and they believe the proposed changes “send the wrong signal to students”.

The Queensland University of Technology insists the changes will “modernise and contemporise” their policy to ensure they “attract and select the best candidate for the role”.

QUT Chief People Officer Gillian Bromley said in an all staff email the changes “consolidate” two policies into one, to “remove duplication” and “provide greater clarity”.

“It is proposed to move away from the merit principle of recruitment and selection to the broader and more inclusive suitability assessment,” she said.

“Assessment based on suitability is more contemporary and this proposal has been modelled on the approach taken by the Public Service Commission Queensland.

“If a position is an identified Indigenous Australian position, then an Indigenous Australian must be on the panel.

“Otherwise, where an applicant identifies as Indigenous Australian, an Indigenous Australian staff member will review short-listed applicants and provide advice as to whether the Indigenous Australian applicant should be short-listed for interview.”

QUT’s Gardens Point campus. Picture: David Clark

In separate comments provided to The Courier-Mail, Ms Bromley said the university’s emphasis on fair and transparent recruitment processes would not be changed.

“The proposed amendments to the policy build on the fundamental merit-based principles to ensure the university attracts and selects the best candidate for the role,” she said.

“This contemporary approach will enable a broader and more sophisticated assessment of potential applicants.

“Suitability is one of the core principles of the recruitment and selection process for many universities and large Australian employers.”

However, a senior QUT academic said every academic colleague they had spoken to about the proposed changes had been left “appalled and flabbergasted”.

“They think it is a terrible signal to students and university donors. To students, it is saying you will not necessarily get the best professors when you pay tens of thousands of dollars for this course, you will get who the university believes is the most suitable,” they said.

“It is probably true to say the current recruitment process is very bureaucratic. But it doesn’t mean we should move away from merit – the problem is that it is overly bureaucratic.”

The Australian Institute of Progress’ Graham Young.

The academic took particular issue with part of the draft policy changes which places emphasis on the consideration of “achievement relative to opportunity”.

“How are they going to measure opportunity? Are they going to assume anyone who is black has not had opportunity, and every white person has had opportunity?” they said.

“The only possible way to determine someone’s achievement relative to opportunity, is to say to them: ‘From where have you come? How was your childhood?’

“It is a deliberate conscious bias towards people who fit certain categories.”

Australian Institute for Progress Executive Director Graham Young questioned what “suitability” meant in the university’s proposed policy overhaul.

“That’s pretty vague. You would like to think that state public servants are being chosen because they are the best, not because they fit in the best,” he said.

“If you get people who fit in best, what does that mean? That means they fit in best with the way you think things should be? But then you create a certain kind of culture which then produces its clones, rather than the people who are most qualified.”

QUT has an ongoing open consultation process which closes on November 17.