Following job cuts, union calls for Federation Uni chief to go

Union calls for resignation of Federation University vice-chancellor Duncan Bentley, after the announcement of nearly 200 job cuts.

Federation University vice-chancellor Duncan Bentley

The National Tertiary Education Union has called for the resignation of Federation University vice-chancellor Duncan Bentley, after the announcement of nearly 200 job cuts last month.

The university lost nearly two-thirds of its international student revenue from 2019 to 2022 and faced a financial crunch with a $41m deficit in 2022, its last reported results.

Federation University has now announced a “major transformation program” and aims to save $20m in 2024 as part of a plan to return to an operating surplus by 2026.

The NTEU said 200 jobs was about 12 per cent of the university’s total workforce and staff were already stretched.

“Federation University attracts diverse students, often from low-SES backgrounds, and cutting courses and removing staff who work hard to support our students will not solve our revenue problems but stands to make them worse instead,” Dr Abbott said. “Our university simply cannot sustain cuts of this scale.”

Federation lost its lucrative international student business, which heavily relied on the Indian student market, during Covid.

The federal government has given the university a visa risk rating of three – the highest level – which means it faces a difficult task if it tries to rebuild its international student numbers.

As part of its transformation Federation University has made a big push to establish workplace learning as the norm in all of its degrees and to maintain its research.