University staff take UTS course cut fight to Fair Work Commission

The National Tertiary Education Union has taken the University of Technology Sydney to the Fair Work Commission in a bid to prevent the university from slashing more than 100 courses.

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has announced it will suspend more than 100 courses.

The National Tertiary Education Union has taken the University of Technology Sydney to the Fair Work Commission in a bid to prevent the university from slashing more than 100 courses.

UTS announced earlier this month that it would “temporarily” suspend enrolments for 130 undergraduate and postgraduate courses and 10 majors for the 2026 student intake.

The NTEU has applied for an interim order to halt the suspensions, with the Fair Work Commission to hear their application on Wednesday.

The union will argue the university administration has breached UTS policies by “ramming through” course suspensions before consulting faculty boards.

Seven faculties are affected, including qualifications in languages, mathematics and technology, as well as double degrees with the Bachelor of Arts in International Studies.

File image: Members of the National Tertiary Education Union protest at the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2019. Picture: Ashley Carter

NTEU General Secretary Dr Damien Cahill said the union “will pursue every avenue” to stop the suspensions and force the university to show its evidence for the cuts.

“Students and staff deserve decisions made in the open, not behind closed doors and certainly through being drip-fed crucial documents in PowerPoint ‘workshops’,” he said.

The National Tertiary Education Union secretary Damien Cahill.

UTS has previously defended going public with the suspensions as an urgent measure to give prospective students certainty ahead of the uni’s open day on August 30.

In a statement posted to the UTS website, it said the suspended courses have low student enrolments and would not necessarily be closed permanently.

“Sometimes intakes are suspended ahead of phase out, some intakes are suspended while courses are redesigned to refresh curriculum and/or better meet student demand before being offered again,” the statement read.

NTEU UTS Branch President Dr Sarah Attfield described the course suspensions as “redundancy by stealth”, leaving staff sick with anxiety for their futures.

The University of Technology Sydney campus in Ultimo. Picture: Supplied

It comes at a troubled time for the higher education sector with six of the 10 public universities in NSW undergoing restructures and job cuts to balance their budgets.

The NTEU claims up to 1500 jobs are at risk across UTS, Macquarie University, Western Sydney University, the University of Wollongong, the University of Newcastle and Charles Sturt University.

UTS reported the highest deficit of any NSW university in 2024, falling $78 million in the red.

The state parliament last week established an inquiry into the New South Wales university sector, while at the federal level an inquiry into university governance is ongoing.