Victoria University says new rules to blame for cuts

VICTORIA University is seeking to shed up to 80 administrative staff through voluntary redundancies as it cuts costs.

VICTORIA University in Melbourne is seeking to shed up to 80 administrative staff through voluntary redundancies as it cuts costs in the face of increased competition when the Gillard government deregulates university student markets next year.

Vice-chancellor Peter Dawkins said he wanted to direct the savings into boosting teaching and research so that VU could better compete with more established universities.

In a key policy to raise university participation, the government from next year will uncap the supply of commonwealth-funded student places. It will allow universities to enrol as many students as they like and will cost almost $4 billion in extra funding to 2015. But it also creates more competition as universities can use their reputations to poach students.

In October, Victoria's La Trobe University warned it was facing a $36 million hole in its budget because of the uncertainty over domestic student numbers next year and falling international student revenue. La Trobe is seeking to cut staff costs through natural attrition and reduced hours.

Last month, the University of Sydney announced it was seeking to cut 150 administration staff and some academic positions.

"The government's desire to expand higher education is a really good idea and we want to be part of that, but as a new university in a more competitive environment we want to make sure we have a really competitive offer," Professor Dawkins said.

Professor Dawkins said there was no "target" on job cuts and that the situation would be reassessed once the redundancy uptake could be compared with other savings measures. However, The Australian understands that cuts of 30-80 positions are envisaged.

National Tertiary Education Union Victorian secretary Colin Long questioned the need for the cuts and said it was part of a pattern of redundancies in the sector, the costs of which could be better spent on students and research.

"It seems strange to me that universities are cutting before next year when we have really no idea of what will happen. Student numbers may go up dramatically," he said.

The NTEU has attacked the government's recent spending cuts in higher education in which universities will lose $240m in promised performance funding over four years. The cut will intensify pressure from the sector for a rise in per-student funding. However, the government argues that it is already boosting funding with improved cost indexation for the sector from next year.