Macquarie University Cuts Key Courses, Jobs

Macquarie University will scrap a raft of key courses as part of a brutal restructure that will axe more than 75 jobs and drastically cut options for students. Bachelor degrees in archaeology, music, ancient languages will be scrapped, while sociology and ancient history will be decimated. Bachelor of Arts students will no longer be able to study politics, gender studies, criminology, and psychological studies as majors. Masters degrees in electronics engineering, ancient history and two IT fields will also be discontinued. The Faculty of Arts faces 42 job losses along with 33 in the Faculty of Science and Engineering. Macquarie University's annual report, released last week, showed profit and operating cashflow improved substantially in 2024, while teaching and research revenue grew by almost double the rate of academic salaries. The Macquarie cuts bring total job losses at NSW universities to more than 1000 in the past year after similar announcements at UTS, University of Wollongong and Western Sydney University. Quotes attributable to NTEU MQ Branch President Dr Nicholas Harrigan: "I and so many other staff at Macquarie had an absolutely sick feeling in our stomachs when these cuts were announced. My heart just sank. "We are real people whose lives are being turned upside down for the sake of thin arguments about budgets and prioritisation. Macquarie just released their annual report and the budget is more or less balanced. "These cuts are particularly cruel because in many cases individual staff members are being specifically targeted. This raises concerns that these cuts are really about targeting individuals' management dislike, not actual business needs. "We have been stuck in an atmosphere of crisis since August last year when they attempted to sack 700 casuals. The months of agonising uncertainty have taken a severe mental and physical toll on staff. "The clear targeting of humanities and social sciences is an attack on the fundamental inherited legacy of human knowledge that charts over 2000 years. To see that being sacrilegiously burned by managers is despicable." Quotes attributable to NTEU Division Secretary Vince Caughley: "Right now, across NSW, we're fighting job cuts at four universities. Four. That's not a coincidence — that's a crisis. A crisis of governance, a crisis of priorities, and a crisis of values. "Every job cut means lost expertise, broken teams, lives upended – for both staff and students. And it sends a message: that those who build knowledge and support students every day are disposable. "Let's be clear too: these cuts are a choice. And they're the wrong one." Quotes attributable to NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes: "These savage cuts are a hammer blow for future students, who have had their education options slashed in a tragic outcome for the community. "Scrapping courses and cutting jobs slowly picks away at the fabric of our society that needs world-class higher education to thrive. "This terrible decision is yet another shocking example of poor university governance, which needs urgent reform so we have accountability and transparency. "Vice-chancellors' instinct is always to come after jobs and courses, making the federal government's goal for half of all young people to have degrees by 2035 impossible."