The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has warned the University of Technology Sydney's plan to shut down its schools of education and public health will cause major damage to the broader community.
UTS on Wednesday announced it would close its International Studies and Education – including all teacher training – and Public Health schools as a part of a plan to reduce the total number of schools from 24 to 15.
Under the proposal, the School of Professional Practice and Leadership would also be closed, and the major in Renewable Energy Engineering abolished.
It's part of management's damaging plan to cancel 31% of all teaching, including 167 courses and 1,101 subjects, while slashing up to 400 jobs.
Despite the NTEU presenting viable alternatives to the cuts through extensive expert analysis, UTS management has ignored the majority of staff concerns and suggestions.
UTS was forced to pause its plan two weeks ago after an unprecedented intervention from SafeWork NSW, which found they were failing to manage serious psychosocial risks created by the rollout of these cuts.
Quotes attributable to NTEU NSW Division Secretary Vince Caughley:
"UTS management's plan to close International Studies and Education, and Public Health is an abandonment of their duty to staff, students, and the wider community. They are choosing short-term financial optics over their responsibility to deliver quality higher education."
"Let's be clear: these are choices, not necessities. UTS recorded record income in 2024, staff costs are lower in real terms than in 2019, and their own modelling shows the university would return to surplus by 2029 without cuts. Yet the Vice-Chancellor and his executives are inflicting turmoil on staff simply to bring that surplus forward by two years, all while blowing $93 million on consultants in the last three years. "UTS has become the poster-child for why governance reform in our universities is urgently needed. People are quite rightly asking what the hell has happened to UTS?"
Quotes attributable to NTEU UTS Branch President Dr Sarah Attfield:
"Staff worked tirelessly to unpick the unconvincing arguments UTS management put forward for the need to save $100 million. We also gave viable alternatives to job and course cuts, but UTS management have dismissed our suggestions.
"Why call for consultation if staff won't be listened to? The lack of transparency, the decisions made without consulting staff and students, and the shutting down of valid criticism have all led to staff losing faith in the leadership at UTS.
"Today, staff who have dedicated their working lives to this institution are being treated as expendable. Their commitment, expertise and passion for education is being sacrificed for the sake of a manufactured urgency to return to surplus."
Quotes attributable to NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes:
"I can't remember seeing cuts of this scale with almost a third of all teaching being slashed, and in critical disciplines like education and public health.
"This devastating plan is a disaster for the community and represents a direct attack on the core mission of UTS.
"This is what happens when university executives treat our public institutions like profit-driven corporations: the public good is abandoned.
"These unjustified cuts are part of a broader governance crisis in our universities that allows overpaid vice-chancellors to go after courses and jobs with no accountability to the communities they're meant to serve.
"What we're seeing at UTS is being replicated across the country: university executives pursuing reckless job cuts that tear at the fabric of public universities, while dismissing the expertise and concerns of their own staff."
