• NTEU Home
  • Campaigns
  • Go Local
    • Universities

      Other Sector

Back to ACT Division

More disturbing revelations about management accountablity at the University of Canberra

Posted 10 April 2012 by Stephen Darwin (ACT Division)

Today's Crikey Daily (http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/04/10/uni-of-canberra-restructure-and-how-students-were-warned-off-the-story/) carries a very disturbing story from a courageous journalism student, Lauren Ingram, who sought to discover the truth about the abandonment of the Bachelor of Journalism and the unpredecented UC sponsorship of the ACT Brumbies Rubgy franchise. Her efforts, and those of her colleagues, met with systematic resistance to legitimate FOI requests. This is exactly the same resistance encountered by the NTEU in seeking information on both of these highly disputed decisions by UC senior management. Although Lauren obtained information on the Journalism program, the amount of public funding used for the Brumbies sponsorship deal reamins apparently a closely guarded secret.

This story reinforces the concerns that the NTEU has been expressing fror several months about how decisions are being made and enforced by senior university management. Surely after so many recent controversies, it is time for UC management to re-engage with the university community, rather than treat it in a manner that suggests its perspectives are of no value in decision-making processes and that it has no right to criticise such narrowly concieved decisions. This culture borne of managerialist obsession - centred on commercial deals, educational 'takeovers', surplus accumulations (read profits) and economically obsessed course cutting - has to end before it entirely undermines the essential collegiality of UC staff and students.

This student's work should shout this loud and clear, even to those who have a persistent inability to accept the reality that their rationalist orthodoxies may be fundamentally flawed.

Comments

There are no comments. Be the first to have your say!

Post a comment

Please be considerate and respectful in your comments.

Branch Contacts

Branch Office


Building 11 C47
University of Canberra
Phone: 02 6201 5355
canberra@nteu.org.au
http://www.nteu.org.au/canberra

Craig Applegate
Branch President
craig.applegate@canberra.edu.au



NTEU Online Store

Site Search

Be Social! Join the NTEU network on:
Copyright 2013 the National Tertiary Education Union  |  About  |  Privacy  |  Site by Datalink