Two years ago, the Australian Catholic University was the Cinderella story of global research.
For a time, ACU had produced so little it was at risk of losing its university accreditation. But in just a few years, ACU rocketed up world rankings, becoming a powerhouse of humanities scholarship – and recorded a healthy $55 million surplus when vice-chancellor Greg Craven left in 2021.
Some affected ACU staff (left to right) philosophy professor Gillian Russell, political science research fellow Kyle Peyton, director of Dianoia Institute of Philosophy professor Stephen Finlay, director of medieval and early modern studies research program Professor Megan Cassidy-Welch and director of political science research Professor Paul Kenny.Credit: Penny Stephens
Now, ACU is struggling with a deficit of more than $30 million, including a forecast blow-out of this year’s travel and entertainment budget. Last week, ACU stunned staff by announcing it would close two world-leading research departments and axe more than 30 academic jobs, including in its signature theology studies.
The proposed cuts drew condemnation from world experts who say they strike at the heart of both global humanities research and the ACU’s standing as a top Catholic university.
Many of the academics facing redundancy are leaders in their field who were headhunted by the university and left positions at Oxford, Cambridge and Yale to move their families to Australia.
The university says staff costs are “one of the most significant areas of expenditure”, as it weathers a dip in student enrolment numbers, and its governing board has instructed it to balance the budget by 2024. But the union argues mismanagement led to ACU’s financial black hole, and that staff cuts won’t fix the problem.
“Spending on research is still well below most universities,” said Stephen Finlay, head of the ACU’s prestigious Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, which is set to close. “We institute directors weren’t even told, and allowed to make our case. It was an ambush.”
Timothy Williamson of Oxford and Yale, one of the world’s top living philosophers, said ACU’s meteoric rise to the pinnacle of global philosophy research was unprecedented but if the cuts went ahead it would earn the institution a new reputation “as a Mickey Mouse university ... damaging the good international standing of the Australian university system as a whole”.
Dr Juhani Yli-Vakkuri, took a demotion to come to ACU on the promise Dianoia would become the leading philosophy research hub in the southern hemisphere. Philosopher Gillian Russell, who left her distinguished tenured professorship in the US for Dianoia, said: “I feel like ACU tricked me into leaving a job I loved.”
Postgraduate students could be left high and dry too without supervisors to finish their research, said political scientist Kyle Peyton, who joined ACU from Yale. “Australia’s home now. It’s devastating.”
Peyton and Russell only recently moved their families to Melbourne and now face an uncertain future.Credit: Penny Stephens
Philosophy PhD candidate Jess Pohlamann said students came for “these superstars ACU brought in, not ACU’s reputation”. The cuts at ACU, which has campuses across Australia, follow more than 70 staff cuts earlier this year and more flagged to professional staff in the coming weeks.
ACU’s deputy vice-chancellor of research and enterprise Professor Abid Khan said it was not yet known how much job cuts would save the budget but stressed “reductions in non-salary were among the first things targeted” for cuts, with “projected significant cuts in travel and consulting” too.
President of the National Tertiary Education Union’s ACU branch, Leah Kaufmann, said: “The 150-odd jobs they’ve told us they’re cutting this year will just limit what we can do as a university and add expensive redundancies on top. Where will that leave workloads – and students?”
Professor Paul Kenny, who “uprooted [his] family” in 2020 to build ACU’s political science research program, said: “We haven’t seen any justification, any data, explaining these cuts. We know it’s not about performance. ”
Despite the pandemic, ACU’s revenue has remained steady at around $550 million. But, internal figures reveal spending on things such as offshore administration, advertising, travel and entertainment, are forecast to blow their budgets by millions this year.
The university has also spent tens of millions of dollars on new projects such as digital-only courses via ACU Online as well as a veterans’ pathways program.
Three sources with close knowledge of the university’s finances but not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed that after former vice-chancellor Craven introduced sweeping research reforms, the budget for research returned surpluses.
Wayne McKenna, the former deputy vice-chancellor of research who led that overhaul, said those multi-million dollar surpluses were budgeted to continue, even with extra scholarships planned. “You always plan for a crisis in research, and we budgeted out to 2027,” he said. “Research can’t be behind this sudden deficit.”
Professor Megan Cassidy-Welch heads ACU’s medieval studies program which is now set to fold, and said the executive did not appear to know what her research group did when they announced the cuts. “Now we’re left to fight it out for what few positions are left in a Hunger Games situation,” she said.
Global experts in philosophy, theology and medieval studies from Oxford to Yale have been writing to the university and the Australian government objecting to the cuts.
Philosophy professor John Hawthorne, who previously held posts at Oxford and Princeton and was instrumental in creating Dianoia at ACU in 2019, said humanities research helped take ACU “from nowhere” – unranked in 2016 – to among the top 300 universities in the world today, and the top 17 in Australia.
Garrett Cullity, the head of philosophy at the Australian National University, said his own faculty’s analysis had found that rival ACU’s Dianoia ranked number one for research output in philosophy – ahead of the likes of Oxford, Stanford, and Harvard – which have many more philosophers on staff and long reputations in the field.
Humanities researchers at ACU say they are being targeted by the cuts, which will also impact postgrad students.Credit: Penny Stephens
At ACU, Khan said concern that the university was turning its back on humanities research was “hyperbole”, as it had not stopped teaching or research in these fields altogether.
The previous research strategy “was set up in a different era ... before COVID and the full impact of ACU’s stagnant revenue and raising costs,” he said. “This model was undertaken to establish ACU as a research-active university [but] the sector is increasingly moving towards a broader perspective of research and we need to adjust to this.”
The new plan, which also affects health and education research to a smaller extent, acknowledges that ACU’s international rankings might fall. McKenna and others warn that could have consequences for the university’s accreditation too. “The saying goes: ‘it’s hard to climb the pole but easy to slide down it’,” said McKenna.
Khan said ACU’s rankings would recover “stronger and more sustainable”. ACU has told staff the restructure is also designed to “rebalance” research and spread it more fairly beyond specialised institutes set up by Craven, back to academics who teach in the faculties.
McKenna said it was heartbreaking to see top experts he convinced to join ACU let go. “I never thought this would happen.”
Dr Dmitri Gallow had been offered tenure to stay at a prestigious philosophy program in the US, but instead moved to help ACU build “something visionary” at Dianoia. “I haven’t even finished unpacking yet.”
Get the day’s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter.