NTEU dispute Deakin trimester move

THE tussle over the move to trimesters at Deakin University has sharpened with the staff union notifying a dispute.

THE tussle over the move to trimesters at Deakin University has sharpened with the National Tertiary Education Union notifying a dispute with the university.

Deakin NTEU branch president Dr Colin Long said senior management had "completely disregarded proper staff consultation processes and imposed on already overworked staff a teaching period over the Christmas holiday period'', among other objections.

He said staff feared that dropping teaching weeks per semester from 13 to "effectively as little as 11'', would diminish the quality of teaching and that students would get less teaching for their fees.
Staff were also aware students were concerned about the loss of Swotvac, the period when students prepare for exams.

Dr Long alleged the university mangement's own reports had not demonstrated a need for a three semester year, nor any educational benefit.

"The only reasons that staff could glean from University material on the topic was that Deakin wanted to be perceived as more flexible and hopefully raise more revenue,'' Dr Long said.