50 Cairns JCU jobs could be axed under radical staffing restructure

One third of the 145 jobs to be axed by JCU will be taken from the Cairns campus in a radical streamlining proposal to bring the school back into the black. Find out what Cairns roles will be made redundant.

ONE third of the 145 jobs to be axed by James Cook University will be taken from the Cairns campus, and buildings could be demolished in a radical streamlining proposal the cash-strapped institution described as “prudent business management”.

A Change Management Proposal released Thursday outlines a sweeping staffing restructure made up of 145 job cuts including the positions of Cairns campus director and the Cairns executive officer from a total university employee base of 1313 workers.

A total of 30 new roles will be created.

Jobs at Cairns James Cook University are expected to be cut at the Smithfield campus. PICTURE: STEWART McLEAN

Vice Chancellor Professor Simon Biggs could not say exactly how many Cairns jobs would be lost but estimated a significant number of positions would go from the Smithfield campus.

“It’s a reasonable assumption that a third of the staff redundancies will come from Cairns,” he said.

Academic services, financial services, procurement, marketing, examination staff and project managers would be made redundant under the proposal.

But Mr Biggs said no academic teaching staff would be lost.

“One thing to be clear on is we are not reducing our academic staff profile, this is completely a process focusing on technical and support staff, we will not see any change to our course profile,” he said.

Faced with declining student enrolments Mr Biggs said cutting staff was one way to make ends meet.

“The long-term challenge in our region is locals not choosing to study at university,” he said.

“Look at high school completion for the past few years. Choosing a pathway that takes them to university has reduced by 30 per cent.”

Pressure from the buoyant jobs market also meant workers did not feel compelled to retrain or upskill at university and intense competition from capital city universities contributed to the enrolment drop off, Mr Biggs said.

In December 2020 the $30m Ideas Lab at JCU Cairns campus was opened. Picture: Stewart McLean

The final changes to the Change Management Proposal will be decided after a three-week consultation period which closes on October 7, with a final plan to be released on October 27.

National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) Queensland secretary Michael McNally said the news would be “devastating” to those who have discovered their position was proposed to be made redundant.

“I am not sure how this cutting mentality will turn around the performance of James Cook University,” he said.

The JCU boss, aware of the uni’s financial position when he took over from outgoing Vice Chancellor Sandra Harding in February, said strategies to attract new enrolments would include consideration of shortening the length of a degrees and making learning more affordable.

Simon Biggs was made the new vice chancellor of James Cook University in February 2022. Picture: Brendan Radke

Older buildings could demolished to reduce maintenance and service costs.

“We won’t sell assets to cover our operating costs. If we sell assets it will be because they are lazy assets and they are not generating income,” he said.

“We can demolish old buildings we don’t need them … it will be more likely that we have older buildings, and we need to look at retiring.

“We are not going to sell assets to pay our day-to-day bills.”

Newman Catholic College in the grounds of JCU Smithfield opened in 2022. Picture: Brian Cassey

Mr Biggs said the university faced “significant” financial challenges and an unsustainable operating budget that must be addressed.

“All we are doing is ensuring prudent business management,” he said.

“I inherited a budget position that required us to take action and that is what were are doing. I still took the job because I believe this university has a great future.”

In 2020 JCU divested part of the Smithfield campus to accommodate the first Catholic school, Newman College, to ever be built within a university campus.

HOW STUDENTS PERCEIVE PROPOSED CHANGES

James Cook University’s student council president has spoken on behalf of an anxious Cairns and Townsville enrolment body now waiting to see how a proposal to axe 145 jobs will impact learning.

Fourth year law and business student Thomas Sherrington, speaking about a sweeping staffing restructure announced on Thursday, said pending redundancies were the talk of the campus.

“It was not a surprise but it was disappointing to hear,” he said.

“Why did it need to happen, were these staff really that expendable, are they going to impact my course?

“We just don’t know, it’s really a wait and see.”

James Cook University student leader was disappointed by staff cuts. Picture: Marc McCormack

Academic services, financial services, procurement, marketing, examination staff and project managers would be made redundant under the proposal.

Mr Sherrington argued those staff may not be in the lecture hall running classes but did play a role in the background.

“Those staff had jobs for a reason, every staff plays a role in the delivery of courses,” he said.

Mr Sherrington said the school looking to the future had to address the reason for Cairns and Townsville losing young school leavers to capital city universities.

“Most people can tell you JCU tries to market itself too much as a world uni, like Sydney Uni or QUT when really it should be comfortable marketing itself as a great regional university,” he said.

“They need to redefine their identity, because we are the bottom quarter in terms of enrolment and we are trying to compete with unis in the top quarter; we shouldn’t be doing that.”

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Originally published as 50 Cairns JCU jobs could be axed under radical staffing restructure