26 March 2012

Wielding the axe at ANU. $25 million in job cuts!

| johnboy
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ANU’s Vice-Chancellor Ian Young has announced he’s planning to trim his budget by $40 million (or 5% of revenue):

We are not alone in having global and national financial circumstances cut into our bottom line.

Investment returns have declined in recent years. The 2012 budget indicates investment returns will be $30 million less than in 2011. This reduction directly impacts on the funds available to operate the University.

In addition, the significant capital investments made in recent years mean that depreciation costs have increased by approximately $10 million compared with 2011.

A number of these issues were discussed in my 13 December 2011 email to staff on the 2012 University recurrent budget.

These external factors, together with substantial wage increases (4.5 per cent in 2012) and services expenses (increase of $26 million in 2012) have meant that the 2012 budget has a projected surplus of only $14 million, or less than 1.5 per cent of total revenue.

The sector average is 4 per cent, a figure which the Commonwealth monitors as a measure of financial health.

We have now reached a point at which there is no option but to take bold action. If we do not act to reduce spending the University will be unable to invest in excellence, and will suffer a gradual decline in international standing and quality.

To bring things in he’s planning to cut $25 million in staff expenses and $15 million to improve business practices.

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c_c said :

Those who want to read more details can find them here: http://about.anu.edu.au/strategy-reviews/financial

On the news tonight, it was said by Education Union reps that this was downsizing by stealth, and some of the language in the VC’s plans linked to above support that.

For example:

“Should the proposal as outlined here be adopted:

Engage external management consultant – 3 month study, implementation could be up to 2 years”

Implementation up to 2 years?

For something that has arisen with so little notice, seemingly in a panic, there’s a lack of urgency in that when the cuts might not be finished until after the budget period they’re trying to rain in spending for.

It would also suggest they don’t expect the ANU’s financial position to improve. I wonder when they’ll make another announcement in a future year about cuts.

I hope they packed an umbrella!

Those who want to read more details can find them here: http://about.anu.edu.au/strategy-reviews/financial

On the news tonight, it was said by Education Union reps that this was downsizing by stealth, and some of the language in the VC’s plans linked to above support that.

For example:

“Should the proposal as outlined here be adopted:

Engage external management consultant – 3 month study, implementation could be up to 2 years”

Implementation up to 2 years?

For something that has arisen with so little notice, seemingly in a panic, there’s a lack of urgency in that when the cuts might not be finished until after the budget period they’re trying to rain in spending for.

It would also suggest they don’t expect the ANU’s financial position to improve. I wonder when they’ll make another announcement in a future year about cuts.

EvanJames said :

HenryBG said :

Jim Jones said :

The ANU is highly regarded precisely because of the quality of it’s research.

I reckon an insufficient volume of that research has been aimed at finding out how to remediate apostrophic illiteracy in the general population.

I’d send round the hat for that project. It’s pretty incredible. On this site alone, I think you could show that more people now misuse apostrophes than use them correctly.

But it’s so haaard to use them correctly….

urchin said :

c_c said :

If all the did was teach what already exists, where would medicine be? We’d still be teaching med students that fever is caused by the blood becoming too hot and the cure for headache is to drill a hole in someone’s head.

If you’re being serious in your comment, then you would appear to be missing the point of University entirely.

Well, to give them some credit, drilling a hole in someone’s head–if one drills deep enough–*would* cure the headache.

I’m sure there’s no shortage of deadweight at the ANU just as there is in any large organisation. Will they actually succeed in getting rid of the people who ought to be gotten rid of? Doubtful. Probably because a fair number of the people who ought to be gotten rid of will be the ones put in charge of getting rid of people.

A number of senior academics have either quit or retired recently, and certainly a year or so ago, the new had of Social Sciences was waging a campaign to force out many staff in an underhanded way.

These cuts will be on top of the quieter cuts and attrition that has been going on for a while.

No doubt there is dead weight, but when the ANU says some of the savings will be in research, there is cause for concern.

poetix said :

Now I’m off to read something particularly useless.

http://stoppingoffplace.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/uselessness-of-everything.html

HenryBG said :

Jim Jones said :

The ANU is highly regarded precisely because of the quality of it’s research.

I reckon an insufficient volume of that research has been aimed at finding out how to remediate apostrophic illiteracy in the general population.

I’d send round the hat for that project. It’s pretty incredible. On this site alone, I think you could show that more people now misuse apostrophes than use them correctly.

When you see an “it’s” used as a possesssive, opening out the It’s to It Is or It Has renders the sentence nonsensical.

For the confused, “it’s” means it is, or it has. It never means that the it owns something.

Another way of saving money would be to cease providing no-charge University services to ex-chancellors who no longer work for the University.

ThatUniStudent said :

Oh, and here’s another way to save money. Cancel all research. All of it. You won’t need to pay researchers and professors who waste public and private money on rubbish like what is the relationship between beer and dating in relationships or the influence of ingroups on television show choice. Instead go back to the roots of universaties as educational institutes and focus on some quality education. That will attract students back and make the ones there feel a little less like the university considers them to be walking ATMs.

At risk of jumping on the band wagon… they should cancel all undergrad teaching in it’s entirety. That way they can also sack any senior staff who are not producing anything new, leaving cheaper staff who are doing research in new and interesting things (the reason for Unis, after all).

Shame their money comes from being sausage factories. 🙁

c_c said :

If all the did was teach what already exists, where would medicine be? We’d still be teaching med students that fever is caused by the blood becoming too hot and the cure for headache is to drill a hole in someone’s head.

If you’re being serious in your comment, then you would appear to be missing the point of University entirely.

Well, to give them some credit, drilling a hole in someone’s head–if one drills deep enough–*would* cure the headache.

I’m sure there’s no shortage of deadweight at the ANU just as there is in any large organisation. Will they actually succeed in getting rid of the people who ought to be gotten rid of? Doubtful. Probably because a fair number of the people who ought to be gotten rid of will be the ones put in charge of getting rid of people.

ThatUniStudent said :

Oh, and here’s another way to save money. Cancel all research. All of it. You won’t need to pay researchers and professors who waste public and private money on rubbish like what is the relationship between beer and dating in relationships or the influence of ingroups on television show choice. Instead go back to the roots of universaties as educational institutes and focus on some quality education. That will attract students back and make the ones there feel a little less like the university considers them to be walking ATMs.

Trolling or dangerous stupidity, not sure.

ANU was (as Jim Jones pointed out rightfully) established as a research only institution to further knowledge in the Commonwealth. Indeed Universities have their genesis in the quest for knowledge, in researching and challenging concepts. They do nothing for society standing still, merely reading from an existing text book.

If all the did was teach what already exists, where would medicine be? We’d still be teaching med students that fever is caused by the blood becoming too hot and the cure for headache is to drill a hole in someone’s head.

If you’re being serious in your comment, then you would appear to be missing the point of University entirely.

Jim Jones said :

The ANU is highly regarded precisely because of the quality of it’s research.

I reckon an insufficient volume of that research has been aimed at finding out how to remediate apostrophic illiteracy in the general population.

ThatUniStudent said :

Oh, and here’s another way to save money. Cancel all research. All of it. …

Yeah, because people out there researching and discovering things like this (for example):
http://www.nature.com/nri/journal/v5/n11/abs/nri1714.html
are just wasting everyone’s time…..

ThatUniStudent said :

Oh, and here’s another way to save money. Cancel all research. All of it. You won’t need to pay researchers and professors who waste public and private money on rubbish like what is the relationship between beer and dating in relationships or the influence of ingroups on television show choice. Instead go back to the roots of universaties as educational institutes and focus on some quality education. That will attract students back and make the ones there feel a little less like the university considers them to be walking ATMs.

You are trolling, surely. Universities exist for research, not to be sausage factories spewing out half-educated but well-trained people into the workforce. I can’t believe that you think that a university is an ‘institute’. And for God’s sake, it’s spelt universities. I really despair at times for the future of this country. Now I’m off to read something particularly useless.

EvanJames said :

But who will develop new knowledge? And on the information superhighway, how will you determine what is worthy knowledge, and what is propaganda or just made up?

At a TAFE (and its various permutations) you might learn bucketloads of Facts, and memorise lots of Knowledge. At a proper university, you are meant to go somewhat beyond that.

Not the way ANU teaches.

ThatUniStudent said :

Oh, and here’s another way to save money. Cancel all research. All of it. You won’t need to pay researchers and professors who waste public and private money on rubbish like what is the relationship between beer and dating in relationships or the influence of ingroups on television show choice. Instead go back to the roots of universaties as educational institutes and focus on some quality education. That will attract students back and make the ones there feel a little less like the university considers them to be walking ATMs.

The ANU is highly regarded precisely because of the quality of it’s research. It was initially established *as* a research university.

Quick tip: Not everything is about you (hard to believe, I know, but this is actually true).

dungfungus said :

Once upon a time “knowledge was power” Only tertiary educated people had access to knowledge gained from higher learning. Then the “information highway” was surveyed and built.
In much the same way as on-line shopping is displacing traditional storefront shopping, the internet is making knowledge at any level available to everyone so there is really no point in going to a university to gain knowledge anymore.

But who will develop new knowledge? And on the information superhighway, how will you determine what is worthy knowledge, and what is propaganda or just made up?

At a TAFE (and its various permutations) you might learn bucketloads of Facts, and memorise lots of Knowledge. At a proper university, you are meant to go somewhat beyond that.

dungfungus said :

In much the same way as on-line shopping is displacing traditional storefront shopping, the internet is making knowledge at any level available to everyone so there is really no point in going to a university to gain knowledge anymore.

Try telling them that at a job interview.

dungfungus said :

how can so many smart people lose so much money in such a short time?

GFC

dungfungus said :

They can’t even provide adequate car parking for fee paying customers.

Try getting a park at any university in Sydney or Melbourne.

My friend took an ANU contract non-acdemic position last year and only stayed there about 2 month. She was working in the joint admin group for one of the colledge/school and according her, there are too much ‘flexi time’ during the day that you can finish a week work in 2 days. In addition, there is no career progress program or any promotion opportunity as old people want to holding their position until retirement because Unisuper pays up to 17%. For a person used to work in commercial industry, she said this is ‘killing herself” and do not want to waste time.

dungfungus said :

They can’t even provide adequate car parking for fee paying customers.

Staff parking at ANU is about $7/week for a surface permit, and a bit over double that for an allocated undercover space. Students get it cheaper. Market rate is more like $10/day — charging the same might pay for another few parking structures, or would at least free up some spaces…

NoAddedMSG said :

pink_fit said :

scrap middle management waste such as the joint admin group in the sciences area. God knows how many millions could be saved. And will the management that led the ANU into this precarious position be made accountable? Not on your life!

How is having a single joint admin group across two colleges instead of two separate admin groups wasteful?

Can you argue that another layer of bureaucracy is good business process when service levels decrease, costs rise and staff morale plummets at its introduction? Perhaps this highlights the upper management and administration failure requiring an intermediary to do the work.

ThatUniStudent said :

You won’t need to pay researchers and professors who waste public and private money on rubbish like what is the relationship between beer and dating in relationships or the influence of ingroups on television show choice.

Or we could cut out everything except pure sciences?

ThatUniStudent11:52 am 27 Mar 12

Oh, and here’s another way to save money. Cancel all research. All of it. You won’t need to pay researchers and professors who waste public and private money on rubbish like what is the relationship between beer and dating in relationships or the influence of ingroups on television show choice. Instead go back to the roots of universaties as educational institutes and focus on some quality education. That will attract students back and make the ones there feel a little less like the university considers them to be walking ATMs.

Once upon a time “knowledge was power” Only tertiary educated people had access to knowledge gained from higher learning. Then the “information highway” was surveyed and built.
In much the same way as on-line shopping is displacing traditional storefront shopping, the internet is making knowledge at any level available to everyone so there is really no point in going to a university to gain knowledge anymore. Tertiary institutions like ANU have dropped the ball on this issue and instead focused on the business model. They are not doing very well on their investment portfolio either – how can so many smart people lose so much money in such a short time? They can’t even provide adequate car parking for fee paying customers.
When the information highway is widened and the speed limit increases (NBN), access to higher learning at tertiary institutions will become even less relevant. How the world is changing.

minniemay said :

EvanJames said :

Chop71 said :

We have one university who can sponser the Brumbies and one cutting $40 Mil

It is admittedly more profitable to pretend to be a university while in actuality you’re little more than an up-jumped TAFE college.

UC are undergoing quite substantial staff cuts (while at the same time doing things like the Brumbies sponsorship) – it’s leading to some understandable unrest amongst the staff.

Maybe the Raiders could sponsor ANU?

EvanJames said :

Chop71 said :

We have one university who can sponser the Brumbies and one cutting $40 Mil

It is admittedly more profitable to pretend to be a university while in actuality you’re little more than an up-jumped TAFE college.

UC are undergoing quite substantial staff cuts (while at the same time doing things like the Brumbies sponsorship) – it’s leading to some understandable unrest amongst the staff.

EvanJames said :

Chop71 said :

We have one university who can sponser the Brumbies and one cutting $40 Mil

It is admittedly more profitable to pretend to be a university while in actuality you’re little more than an up-jumped TAFE college.

Is it time for the standard ANU vs. UC bitchfest?
No matter how you redirect it, it does seem (on the surface) that Chop’s point is amusing and worth highlighting! Maybe ANU need to replace Young with Parker! Hahahaha!

ThatUniStudent8:50 am 27 Mar 12

Why don’t they try cutting students services? Whoops, already done that.
How about amalgamating the libraries? Whoops, already tried that.
Or maybe they could just increase the number of International students whom they make more money off of? Whoops, already done that too.
Why don’t they get rid of Aboriginal students who they don’t make any money off of? Whoops, doing that next.
Do we really need cleaners, groundsmen, lecturers, or Ian Young?

pink_fit said :

scrap middle management waste such as the joint admin group in the sciences area. God knows how many millions could be saved. And will the management that led the ANU into this precarious position be made accountable? Not on your life!

How is having a single joint admin group across two colleges instead of two separate admin groups wasteful?

scrap middle management waste such as the joint admin group in the sciences area. God knows how many millions could be saved. And will the management that led the ANU into this precarious position be made accountable? Not on your life!

And how many $100 million buildings are currently under construction at the ANU? I wonder how they plan on using them with less staff?

I’m no accountant, but two things in the announcement just don’t make sense to me:

“The 2012 budget indicates investment returns will be $30 million less than in 2011.”
Surely the point of the budget is that you put into it what you expect will be the case, not rely on it as the crystal ball for what actually will happen?

“In addition, the significant capital investments made in recent years mean that depreciation costs have increased by approximately $10 million compared with 2011.”
What’s a depreciation cost? There was the cost of the capital investment (in previous FY, with presumably repayments in future FYs), and there may be a future cost of replacement of said infrastructure, but how does the depreciation of an asset actually cost real dollars. Isn’t depreciation used in this context to write off over time the previous expenditure on the asset?

Happy to have someone explain this to me.

Young is not giving reasons but excuses to cut staff. None of his “logic” holds up.

His comment about the 4.5% pay rise fails (quite deliberately) to take note that ANU staff saw only 2% rises in 09 and 10 and 3.5% in 11–which, if we assume 3% inflation per year, means that at the end of 2012 they will be making slightly less than they were in 09.

That the enterprise agreement comes up for renegotiation soon is no doubt *completely* and *utterly* unrelated to this dramatic (and erratic) announcement that staff will be cut.

That in adopting this strategy he is having a wonderful impact on morale and making it that much more difficult to attract quality staff is, apparently, unimportant…

c_c said :

Should they have that expertise in house full time?

It’s valuable to bring consultants in to tell you what you already know, in a way that lets you blame them for unpopular decisions.

Chop71 said :

We have one university who can sponser the Brumbies and one cutting $40 Mil

It is admittedly more profitable to pretend to be a university while in actuality you’re little more than an up-jumped TAFE college.

I guess it should be put in some perspective though that Monash University had to make over 350, intact closer to 400 staff, redundant a while back due to falling international enrolments. It is true that the whole sector is in trouble. However, this sounds more like bad management.

We have one university who can sponser the Brumbies and one cutting $40 Mil

Amazing

Mothy said :

birder said :

They are hiring consultants to see who they should fire. Does the irony escape them?

Non-ongoing one off expense in order to generate ongoing savings. Where’s the irony birder?

Perhaps that in an institution the size of ANU with as many staff and admin resources as it has, they still have to pay a premium for external advice on their finances… I call that ironic.
Should they have that expertise in house full time?

And how is it one off? Assumedly they will call in external advice for each budget saving they seek.

birder said :

They are hiring consultants to see who they should fire. Does the irony escape them?

Non-ongoing one off expense in order to generate ongoing savings. Where’s the irony birder?

First UniSuper, now ANU.

Spending millions on rebranding the god damn Uni (which after 3 years, they still have two brands side by side everywhere anyway) yet they want to cut staff. Ian Young, you disgraceful excuse for a manager, go back to whatever academic backwater you came from.

The fact you announced an ambitious program not long ago where you openly said you likely wouldn’t reach the targets you set just proves what an unstable, unsafe pair of hands you are for the future of ANU.

They are hiring consultants to see who they should fire. Does the irony escape them?

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