TEQSA investigates cuts at University of Technology Sydney

Just days after a work safety watchdog halted job cuts at a university, the tertiary education regulator has stepped in with more questions.

Professor Andrew Parfitt, vice-chancellor of the University of Technology Sydney, has invoked the wrath of unions by announcing job cuts and course suspensions to stem financial losses.

Universities regulator TEQSA is investigating the loss-making University of Technology Sydney just days after a work ­safety watchdog ordered a halt to job cuts.

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency revealed on Friday that UTS has been the subject of a “compliance process’’ since August 18, shortly after UTS announced job cuts and the suspension of 120 courses.

TEQSA said it was “obtaining and assessing relevant information’’, including complaints from the National Tertiary Education Union. TEQSA said it was also “engaging’’ with SafeWork NSW, which this week ordered a suspension of job cuts and restructuring, citing psychosocial hazards to staff.

“Where materials (sic) risks are identified TEQSA will consider the appropriate regulatory action,’’ the regulator wrote to the NTEU on Friday. “TEQSA does not share the specific details of regulatory activity undertaken with providers. This is to avoid prejudicing our assessments and to ensure we meet our privacy obligations.’’

NTEU NSW division secretary Vince Caughley said it was “a mess entirely of UTS management’s own making’’. “These disastrous job cuts must be abandoned to stop management doing any more damage to UTS,’’ he said. “The community deserves better than unaccountable senior executives diminishing public universities.’’

Alison Barnes, federal president of the National Tertiary Education Union, has called out a governance crisis at universities. Picture: James Croucher

NTEU national president Alison Barnes said the UTS crisis “is an infuriatingly perfect example of the governance crisis universities all around Australia are mired in’’.

“Vice-chancellors spend hundreds of millions on consultants that tell them to sack people, only to fall foul of regulators and undermine the very institutions they are charged with overseeing,’’ she said.

A UTS spokesman said the university had “proactively” informed TEQSA of its temporary suspension of new student intake for some courses in 2026. “On request, UTS subsequently provided some supporting documentation,’’ he said. “The suspension is in accordance with and complies with our policies.’’

UTS vice-chancellor Andrew Parfitt announced last month that enrolments would be suspended for 120 low-demand courses in 2026, as part of a $100m cost-cutting drive. The courses include business, law, engineering and IT, health and science. The university recorded an operating loss of $81m last year, and $107m in 2023, based on its annual reports.