Toowoomba’s campus for the University of Southern Queensland could be hard hit by job cuts in a bid to plug a $32 million budget hole.
The National Tertiary Education Union has warned that UniSQ are refusing to detail exactly how many jobs will be cut in the latest redundancy round to hit the sector.
NTEU UniSQ Branch President Professor Andrea Lamont-Mills said the union believed 60 jobs had been lost already, with one area set to lose almost 40 per cent of its staff.
“These job cuts are devastating for not only the people affected, but colleagues left behind who will inevitably be forced to shoulder massive workload burdens,’’ Professor Lamont-Mills said.
“The impact on Toowoomba, Ipswich and Springfield cannot be underestimated. A major regional employer shedding this many jobs will have enormous economic and social consequences.
“Staff don’t understand how UniSQ can go from having a relatively strong balance sheet just 10 months ago to cutting so many jobs.
“It points to a major failure by management to keep the university in financial health.
“Keeping staff in the dark is causing incredibly concerning levels of stress and anxiety.”
NTEU Queensland Division Secretary Michael McNally said regional universities were the lifeblood of their communities and decisions like this cut them to the core.
