Media Release
DEAKIN DUMPS DAYS IN DASH FOR DOLLARS
NTEU has notified a dispute with
Dr Colin Long, NTEU branch president at
‘At a time when students are being asked to pay more for their education they will now get less for their dollar’ said Dr Long.
‘Staff have raised with the NTEU their concerns that the quality of teaching will be diminished at Deakin because the number of teaching weeks in the present semesters will be reduced from 13 to effectively as little as 11’ said Dr Colin Long.
‘The University management is aware that students are very concerned about the loss
of Swotvac, the period when students prepare for examinations, yet appear to have little regard for this important time or students’ learning experience’ said Dr Colin Long.
Dr Long also said that ‘senior management had completely disregarded proper staff consultation processes and imposed on already overworked staff a teaching period
over the Christmas holiday period.
Dr Colin Long stated that ‘University senior management’s own reports had not demonstrated any demand for a three semester year and had failed to demonstrate 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’, stated Dr Colin Long.
Dr Colin Long said ‘that results from last year’s Victorian-wide survey of university staff illustrated that Deakin staff were already experiencing excessive workloads, with 92% of academic staff who responded indicating they were concerned about excessive workloads.. It is inconceivable to us that senior management could ignore these results and spring on already overworked staff a greater workload’.
‘Deakin Academic staff will now be required to re-write their lectures or drop completely some lectures to fit into the reduced semester timetable’ said Dr Long.
For further information contact:
Dr Colin Long, NTEU Deakin Branch President.