Charles Sturt University will slash up to 100 academic jobs as it drastically cuts costs to remedy a forecast deficit of $49.5 million.
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CSU has confirmed its staff have been told about imminent academic redundancies to take place in October across its faculties, as the university enters the next phase of its 'Sustainable Futures' money-saving program.
CSU acting vice-chancellor Professor John Germov was not available for an interview on September 30, but said in a statement the university expects to reduce "around 100-full time equivalent positions".
Professor Germov said he expects the cuts will result "predominantly" from "voluntary separations" which staff have until October 16 to apply for.
It is not yet known how many jobs will be lost at the Wagga campus.
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"We have worked hard to identify and implement changes to make savings across our operations but, unfortunately, we cannot avoid job losses," he said.
Wagga's Trish Gray, one of the founders of former staff and alumni group 'Friends of CSU', called the job losses "tragic".
"I sincerely hope the university is maintaining a quality staff list and will be able to run their courses," she said.
"It's an extremely difficult time and I know there probably needs to be some [cuts], but all this 'streamlining' ... is just crazy."
Academics from discipline areas affected by CSU's cull of up to 600 subjects are being encouraged to apply for a redundancy, as are some technical staff.
They will join more than 100 non-academic staff whose jobs were axed earlier this year.
Professor Germov said the redundancies would be subject to eligibility criteria.
"So that the university can maintain the appropriate workforce to continue to deliver quality teaching for our students and important research outcomes for our regions," he said.
"While these are voluntary separations we appreciate this is not an easy process for any of our staff, and our main priority at this time is to provide support to those affected."
Professor Germov has said the university's massive restructuring should reduce its total deficit to $22 million in the 2020 financial year and "put the university on the path to a balanced budget by the end of the 2021 financial year".
Doug Hill, another founder of Friends of CSU, said losing 100 academics in regional areas would be "problematic".
"It's hard to get people to move from cities to regional areas and there's not many people who are around to have that pool to recruit from," he said.