Major Sydney university suspends enrolments for more than 100 courses

The University of Technology has blocked new students from enrolling in more than 100 courses next year, spooking staff at the financially struggling institution, which plans to axe about 400 jobs.

Vice chancellor Andrew Parfitt described the move as “temporarily suspending new student intakes for some courses” because UTS did not want to disrupt students by offering courses that may be discontinued.

“I want to be very clear that no decision has been made to discontinue any course,” Parfitt said in an all-staff email on Thursday morning.

“The courses to be temporarily suspended were recommended by the faculties and are courses for which there has been low student enrolments over a period of time. This has no impact on current students at this time.”

Upset staff were called into faculty meetings on Thursday. A list of suspended courses noted some enrolled just two students each year.

The faculty of design and society is taking the biggest hit, with more than 60 courses suspended. The health faculty will not offer 33 courses next year.

Three majors – mathematics, physics and environmental science – will not be offered by the bachelor of science but will continue to be offered through other undergraduate degrees.

The decision, made two weeks before the university’s annual open day, comes after the institution told staff in April that 400 jobs would be axed as part of a plan to find $100 million in savings next year.

The university never recovered from the financial hit of COVID-19 and has struggled to balance increasing costs and government policy changes that have reduced funding and limited near-term revenue growth.

Since announcing the restructure, UTS has not told staff which positions would be axed.

The decision to discontinue courses would follow consultation with staff and unions through the upcoming “academic change proposal process”, the vice chancellor told staff on Thursday.

UTS paid KPMG management consultants $4.8 million to advise on the change proposal.

UTS NTEU (National Tertiary Education Union) branch president Dr Sarah Attfield said some staff members reported “feeling physically ill”.

“Staff are just very distressed – there’s been no rationale or reason for the courses being suspended,” she said.

“This came out of the blue for most people and they still haven’t given a rationale and why particular courses have been targeted. We don’t know the business case.”

In a press release, the university said the suspension of new student intake did not mean a course would automatically be closed.

“Closure often does follow temporary suspension, but in some cases courses may be reopened again for new intakes following assessment of criteria for continuing the course, while others may be suspended while they are redesigned to better meet student demand and need before being offered again,” it said.

Numerous universities this year have embarked on plans to axe jobs, including Australian National University, Western Sydney University and Macquarie University.

Last week, the University of Wollongong updated its restructuring plan to cut between 85 and 118 positions – a reduction from the 155 to 185 estimated in March.

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