Referring to casual workers, Professor Black said that all staff who had existing relationships with the university would be prioritized for employment: “People`s livelihoods are at risk – academics, tutors, administrative staff, library staff, catering staff, ground staff, cleaners and many more – all with families trying to make ends meet.” A new wage savings scheme proposed by the University of Tasmania is calling on employees to vote on a 12-month wage freeze. He said that the number of international students for the 2nd semester of this year has increased from 1400 in the 2nd semester of 2019 to 700. The package also includes support for flexible arrangements for employees who wish to change their share of employment, the authorization of voluntary contributions from employees, 65 of whom have already contributed $350,000, and the priority given to voluntary measures such as early retirement schemes or voluntary redundancies. Professor Black said the university had reached an agreement in principle on the package with the state and the national leadership of the National Union of Higher Education and the Community and Public Sector Union, but staff have not yet voted on the package. “Over the next few years, we should be able to be a smaller employee, reached by voluntary action. Of course, if we don`t succeed, we need to consider non-voluntary measures,” Professor Black said. If employees agree to keep salaries at all levels of the organization, which will result in a 2% salary increase due under the current staffing contract, which will not be passed on, about 50 jobs are expected to be saved. He said the package would have no impact on the student experience and would not interfere with the university`s research. An independent national committee will oversee all job cuts over the next 12 months. “We are a clear positive right now [for national students] because, as is often the case in difficult times, people are going back to education to get the skills they need.
Professor Black said the university, which was currently in a positive net position, would take $130 million in debt over four years, bringing it to $80 million in net debt to spread the burden of the pandemic over time. Union members and senators from Tasmania have called on the Commonwealth to provide more support to the university as a matter of urgency. Professor Black said the drop in sales is mainly related to a decline in the number of international students due to COVID-19. “The international student challenge is a challenge that we named long before the arrival of the coronavirus as a challenge that we had to adapt to ensure we had a sustainable university,” professor Black said. “They gave us, regardless of how many students we had, our full Commonwealth scholarship, which created real security for us,” he said. “The Morrison government has clearly not provided enough support to universities across the country,” they said in a joint statement. UTAS Vice Chancellor Rufus Black on Wednesday unveiled the package agreed with the union`s leadership, which aims to protect jobs and address the financial challenges posed by COVID-19. “At no time did [the loss of international students] even come close to posing an existential threat to the university.” “All national funding programmes have remained unchanged and on schedule.” But there remains a gap of $40 million to $50 million a year that the university said should be covered by its salary budget.
“Our total revenue in one year is usually just over $600 million,” Professor Black said. Professor Black said the university suffered revenue losses of $30 million to $34 million in 2020 and between $60 million and $120 million per year in 2021 and 2022. But Professor Black said the government has done a good job of supporting the university. “We have tight management of vacancies, so we are looking for a minimal number of new people and we only do it from people who already have a relationship with the university,” he said. .