GARS Press Release
Relocation of Deakin Geelong staff and students will make life much harder for both
April 26 2012
A plan to relocate some staff and students between the two campuses of Deakin University in Geelong is badly thought out and will make life harder for both groups, National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) said on Thursday.
Under the University’s Geelong Accommodation Relocation Strategy (GARS), students from business and law faculties will be decanted from the Waurn Ponds campus to the waterfront campus from Trimester 1 2013. Some of those studying health related subjects will be consolidated in the Waurn ponds campus.
Victorian NTEU Secretary, Dr Colin Long said:“Numerous issues related to the plan remain unresolved.”
“Some of these relate specifically to students and staff at the University while others will impact on the broader Geelong community.”
“How will the city precinct cope with additional vehicle traffic and parking congestion, for example?”
“How will students juggle a twenty minute commute between campuses, possibly several times in one day?”
“What impact will the increased demand for childcare in the city precinct have on already stretched Geelong facilities?”
“NTEU members are also concerned that under the plan new teaching and work spaces may not meet teaching needs.”
“A 150 seat lecture theatre will not hold a first year lecture of several hundred students, for example, and whilst Coster Hall is available, it is a hall, not a lecture theatre.”
“We understand that new tutorial rooms will not be large enough for existing tutorial groups”
“GARS will also result in a lot of staff working in open-plan offices, limiting opportunities for student drop-ins for learning support and limiting the quality work practices of staff.”
“Despite numerous meetings with University management, details of the plan have only recently been shared with staff, and affected students are only now being informed by letter.”
“NTEU members welcome innovation in our work, but not at the expense of students, staff or our community.”
For information and comment
Garry Ryan, NTEU Deakin Branch Industrial Organiser: 041 8150223
Branch Contacts
Branch Office
Room 214 Transient Bdg Camperdown/DarlingtonCampus
University of Sydney
Phone: 02 9351 2827
Fax: 02 9351 7573
nteu@nteu.usyd.edu.au
http://www.nteu.org.au/sydney
Michael Thomson
Branch President
mthomson@mail.usyd.edu.au
Katherine Barnsley
Branch Organiser
kbarnsley@nteu.org.au
Shane Reside
Branch Organiser
sreside@nteu.org.au
