Up to 220 more job losses loom at Deakin Uni in restructure

Hundreds more university staff will lose their jobs in the latest round of redundancies to hit the troubled tertiary education sector.

More jobs will go at Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus.

Up to 220 staff at Deakin University face losing their job in another wave of proposed redundancies announced on Tuesday.

The announcement follows 300 forced retrenchments at the university last year plus an unspecified number of lost casual positions.

The latest cuts will affect all campuses in Burwood, Waurn Ponds, Geelong Waterfront and Warrnambool. The Deakin workforce is currently about 5000 people.

The redundancy program and organisational changes were branded as Deakin Reimagined in a statement by vice-chancellor Iain Martin.

Deakin University vice-chancellor Iain Martin.

Professor Martin said the changes were “necessary to secure Deakin’s financial future while ensuring our services are effective, cohesive, and aligned to core purposes”.

“There is no doubt that this is an incredibly challenging time for both Deakin and the wider university sector in Australia,” he said.

It is estimated that between 180 and 220 jobs will be lost.

Staff were being briefed on Tuesday morning with changes to be in place by early October.

About 1000 submissions from staff have been included in the change proposal.

“Deakin must be ready to tackle head-on the challenges of an uncertain future. Deakin Reimagined is about not only emerging from the difficulties of Covid-19 but investing in a vibrant and sustainable future,’’ Prof Martin said.

Deakin’s move is the latest in a wave of jobs pain to hit the higher education sector, mostly because of the pandemic and the loss of international student fees revenue.

Last month La Trobe announced it was set to slash 200 full-time jobs as part of a cost-­cutting measure, although other positions would be created.

Earlier this year, Universities Australia revealed research that at least 17,300 uni jobs had been lost last year.