‘Indigenise the curriculum’: University of Sydney begins hiring spree

The University of Sydney has begun a hiring spree to help ‘decolonise’ the sandstone institution’s course subjects amid indoctrination fears.

The University of Sydney is attempting to “decolonise” its course subjects. Picture: Damian Shaw

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The University of Sydney is on a hiring spree to “Indigenise the curriculum” over the next two years with multiple roles on offer to “decolonise” the sandstone institution’s course subjects, sparking fears of encroaching separatism within university halls.

The Australian can reveal the nation’s oldest university last week started recruiting for a “Senior Education Design Officer” who would be responsible for “executing transformative curriculum projects aimed at embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge, perspectives, texts, and media within curricular projects”.

It comes after it was uncovered that a law course at Macquarie University – now under review – was marking students on their ability to deliver an acknowledgement of country and were made to do a “privilege walk” as a class exercise.

The two-year University of Sydney role was advertised with a base salary of $108,557 per annum.

The officer would “provide expert guidance to stakeholders, primarily academic and teaching staff, to identify, scope, and plan multiple projects that align with university objectives to Indigenise the Curriculum”, the description read.

They would “collaborate with the Indigenising Curriculum team to design and deliver relevant training to academics and teaching staff” and “seek and share knowledge on national and international cultural and pedagogical approaches to educational innovation and transformation”.

The university also advertised a two-year $99,455 role for a project officer to play a “key role in Indigenising the curriculum” at the university.

The role would provide support “across a number of initiatives aimed at Indigenising and Decolonising Curricula”.

The university would give preference to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants for both roles, the advertisements read.

NT Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says all Australians should have access to high-quality education. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price accused the University of Sydney of trying to “ingrain separatist notions” and that all Australians should have access to high-quality education.

“This is yet another demonstration of inner-city elites entrenching ideas of separatism in our education system,” she said.

“The latest Closing the Gap data suggests that Indigenous Australians are still behind other Australians in year 12 completion rates, and that targets for Indigenous children to be developmentally on track are worsening.

“These are the issues that should take priority over ideological concerns like the decolonising of curricula.

“The Coalition is committed to ensuring our universities are focused on core academic instruction and research, and that all Australian children, regardless of heritage or racial background, have access to high-quality education that enables them to succeed and contribute meaningfully to society.

“The continued ideological push to ingrain separatist notions only serves to detract from those goals and is simply unjustifiable.”

Warren Mundine says the university “hasn’t learnt its lesson from its stance on anti-Semitism and bigotry”. Picture Thomas Lisson

Indigenous leader Warren Mundine, who was a leading advocate for the no vote during the voice to parliament referendum, slammed the University of Sydney and said it “hasn’t learnt its lesson from its stance on anti-Semitism and bigotry that was happening on their campus for months”.

“Look, there’s nothing wrong with having Indigenous courses, which is talking about researching and doing histories,” he said.

“But this idea of decolonisation and Indigenising courses … this is what the rules are going to be, how you study things here – I thought that universities were about people coming there, challenging, researching, backing their arguments up with empirical evidence, learning.

“All these courses have become indoctrination.

“I think this is a bizarre and ridiculous position. We do not need thought police within our universities. We need freedom and freedom of academic study.”

A University of Sydney spokeswoman defended the job advertisement.

“These roles have been designed to assist our educators when they are developing teaching resources about Indigenous knowledge and cultures where relevant for our curriculum,” she said.