Archive for May, 2009

With the UNE enterprise bargaining team, NTEU, and CPSU now well into negotiations for two new enterprise agreements, I would like to update you on progress. I am pleased to report that several major points have already been agreed upon, while we are still searching for agreement on a number of others.

Among the items agreed upon or proposed by the UNE bargaining team are the following:

• The previous HECE (Higher Education Contract of Employment) provisions for all contract staff are retained, and consultative committees for the formulation of policy directly involving the NTEU and CPSU will be re-established. This means that fixed-term staff can only be employed in certain types of contracts for a specified period of time and have an entitlement to severance payments under certain circumstances.
• Academic probation will now be to a maximum of 3 years and not the current 5, and certain provisions pertaining to academic promotions that were removed as a result of the Howard Government’s HEWRRs legislation will be reinserted.
• The UNE bargaining team has agreed to a CPSU proposal for a general staff workload clause to help address matters relating to overwork for general staff. The CPSU has also agreed to reinsert into the agreement the position evaluation process, which allows for reclassification of general staff positions where appropriate.
• As a major new benefit for general staff, the UNE bargaining team has agreed that time-off-in-lieu of overtime will accrue at overtime rates as opposed to the current hour-for-hour provision.
• There will be no change to giving general staff the option of electing 6 months redeployment or retrenchment if a general staff position is made redundant. The current amount of retrenchment pay for all staff is unchanged. Annual leave, the Christmas shutdown period and long service leave entitlements are also unchanged. UNE does not propose to change the paid leave quantum for either family and community leave or parental leave, although the accompanying detail is still being discussed.

Issues still under negotiation include:

• The calculation of academic workload. The UNE bargaining team has proposed a new method of calculating academic workload based on 1725 hours of service per annum (37.5 hours per week, excluding 4 weeks annual leave and 2 weeks public holidays). Academics would negotiate with their Head of School or Discipline Convenor what work they would actually perform during those hours, in line with an academic workload policy that has been determined at school level. This change from the current system (where workload is calculated by EFTSL) would increase flexibility for both the University and academics, while allowing for an appropriate balance of teaching, research and other activities. The NTEU wishes to retain the current EFTSL-based system.
• The UNE bargaining team is seeking an academic availability clause to formalise existing school requirements on availability. The availability clause also addresses issues such as the expectations around casual staff attendance at school meetings. The NTEU has not accepted this clause.
• The UNE bargaining team is seeking for employees to have 15 days paid sick leave per annum for all staff that accumulates from year to year for each individual, as opposed to unlimited sick leave on full pay. This would include an automatic bank at the commencement of the new agreement of 5 days sick leave for each year of completed service for current staff, in addition to the 15 days sick leave per year that accumulates if not taken. It is also proposed that, in cases of hardship, a staff member can seek additional paid sick leave. Both unions are seeking to maintain the status quo.

Finally, we have yet to agree on what constitutes a fair pay rise for UNE staff in a climate of decreased student enrolments over the past five years and a challenging situation with regard to the national economy. The UNE bargaining team has so far offered a 9% pay increase over three years, while the NTEU is seeking a 20% pay increase over three years and the CPSU has yet to revise its initial claim of 27% over three years. We value our staff and seek to reward them appropriately, but the University simply cannot afford such increases.

Considerable progress has been made towards an agreement and so it is unfortunate that the NTEU recently advised the University that if agreement was not reached by a given date, it “will consider initiating a membership ballot for protected industrial action.” I believe we can reach an agreement without such disruption and I hope that bargaining will continue in good faith by all parties over the coming weeks.

Staff are reminded that if they have any queries or want to contribute to bargaining they can email the University bargaining team at: ebatune@une.edu.au.

Recently I attended discussions focussed around the recommendations of the Bradley Review and heard the varying responses from other universities on how they will address the government’s 40/20 vision for higher education. That is that 40% of Australians will hold a Bachelor qualification by 2025 and to increase the proportion of students from low SES backgrounds to 20% by 2020.

The question universities are grappling with is how they are going to increase student access when school leaver numbers are scheduled to fall or at best remain static over the next 10 years. This means that growth will need to come from the non-school leaver sector. While UNE is currently well placed in the non-school leaver sector, in this environment the competition from other universities is set to increase significantly. How UNE responds to this shift in focus and challenge to our core market is an issue which all of us need to consider.

An asociated issue when targetting these different markets is that of entry pathways. How ‘open’ do we want to be in allowing entry into university courses? Once again UNE is well placed with its various entry pathways including Principal’s recommendations, direct applications, and interviews for the medical programme with students supported by TRACKS, the Pathways units and a variety of other support mechanisms. In the meetings I attended there was also recognition that to support these alternate entry pathways there would need to be an increase in the size of student administration units due to the shift in responsibility for entry from UAC, QTAC, VTAC etc. to the institution.

This week the release of the budget confirmed the move to a demand driven system with the commensurate increase in competition for students required to meet the government’s growth agenda.

Strategies universities are undertaking to attract and retain students are similar throughout the sector including the renewal and refreshing of academic programs to increase attractiveness of offerings, improvement of teaching spaces, early engagement with school students, retention strategies particularly focussing on first year students and the use of technologies to engage with students to attract and retain them.

The release of the federal budget this week and the changes in funding structures will be a major topic of conversation for executive management as they consider how UNE can best respond to the changing environment. Once you have had the opportunity to read the budget papers in conjunction with the Bradley and Cutler reviews comments on the blog would be welcome.

Mike Quinlan, Chief Operating Officer, commends university staff and highlights a series of projects designed to enhance the University.

All but the last of the Autumn leaves are yet to fall around campus, and this should indicate to everyone the year is quickly racing away.  Certainly, the first five months of 2009 has been a busy time for everyone, but particularly for my area, with the University budget now approved by UNE Council, and the annual Audit by the NSW Government now submitted to Parliament.  

The annual audit conducted by the NSW Government Audit Office is a detailed review of the University finances, and all its associated entities, including ABRI, Sport UNE, Services UNE, UNE Partnerships, and the National Marine Science Centre.  As expected, the Audit Office has confirmed the University’s clean bill of health, confirming an unqualified Audit report.  This essentially means that the Audit Office has found no discrepancies with the University finances and UNE complies with the Accounting Standards for Australia.  I congratulate the Financial Services Directorate team for all the work and time put into this necessary Government requirement.

The 2009 Budget has now been loaded and now, work has already begun on the 2010 budget process -with an agreed process already underway, and a series of papers that will be submitted to the Finance Committee after consultations with Heads of Schools, Directors and the University’s Executive group.  One of these papers will be the 2010 Budget Principles paper which, in broad terms, indicate where the key priorities of the University are, and how these will be funded.  The other paper will be on the UNE Strategic Initiative Fund - which has $2 million available for projects or ‘efficiencies’ that either enhance UNE’s reputation, significantly grow student numbers, increase research income or reduce business costs.

At present, if you wander around the campus you will see the final outcomes of a number of exciting projects recently completed by Facilities Management Services.  These include the Lewis Lecture theatre and surrounding landscape refurbishment. This 260 seat lecture theatre has been given a new lease of life with state-of-the-art video conferencing and audio visual equipment, new seating and overall great interior décor.  An added feature to the new lecture theatre is the exterior landscaping between the theatre and the Lamble Building.   In my opinion, this project has made a great improvement to our campus all-round. 

At the other end of the campus, towards the western car park, you will notice the newly completed glasshouse complex and teaching facility.  This new group of buildings have two glass houses that can be temperature controlled, even in the most severe Armidale winter, in addition to a teaching building.  The teaching building is sure to stand out - with green, glazed brick work as a highlight - well worth a look. 

Also under construction and due for completion in June this year is the grandstand at Bellevue Oval.  The grandstand will seat 450 people and features quality changing rooms, a first aid room and public toilet facilities  - not to mention bar and club rooms.  This project was been made possible by a VSU grant from the Australian Government in 2007. 

Another project that will get underway before June this year is the partial refurbishment of Mary White College.  This is the first of a series of projects which are part of the ongoing refurbishment program of the UNE College system, which will no doubt continue to enhance the attractiveness of living at UNE.

Many of these projects have been made possible by the recent retirement of loans that were taken out in the early 1990s.   This has meant there is sufficient funds available for current capital projects and I am excited to report that over the next three years several other innovative new projects will be undertaken, and I am sure that these projected will not only transform the campus appearance, but most critically, enhance the teaching and research facilities of the University.

I look forward to keeping you updated on these issues.

Mike