The fourth hearing of the NSW Parliament\u2019s inquiry into the university sector turned to Macquarie University \u2014 and exposed, in stark terms, what happens when public universities treat teaching, disciplines and staff as numbers to be moved around a spreadsheet.<\/p>\n
The day continued the inquiry\u2019s focus on consultants, data and university restructures. EY, KordaMentha and Pilbara Group all gave evidence about the work they do with universities. Some of that work is technical. Some of it is modelling. Some of it is advice. But the Macquarie evidence showed the danger when these tools are used inside governance systems that are already too closed, too executive-driven and too disconnected from staff, students and the public purpose of universities.<\/p>\n
Pilbara Group was particularly important. Its representatives explained that it provides activity-based costing models for universities, including Macquarie, showing costs, revenue and margins down to individual subjects and courses. The model can examine staffing costs, casual versus permanent labour, student mix, preparation time and other inputs. Pilbara said it does not make the decisions. It provides the model and reports; universities decide how to use them.<\/p>\n
That is exactly the problem. Data is not neutral once it is placed inside a management process built around cuts. A model that can rank subjects by cost, margin or \u201cefficiency\u201d can become a powerful weapon against disciplines, courses and staff \u2014 especially when the people most affected do not get access to the assumptions, the underlying data or the chance to test whether the model reflects the reality of teaching and research.<\/p>\n
The NTEU session made this painfully clear. Macquarie NTEU Branch President Associate Professor Nick Harrigan, Vice-President Dr Jumana Bayeh, and Treasurer Dr Natalie Jovanovski gave evidence about the scale and character of the cuts at Macquarie. Their evidence was not abstract. It was about disciplines being gutted, staff being forced out, workloads rising, and students losing the richness and depth of a genuine university education.<\/p>\n
Associate Professor Harrigan told the inquiry that Macquarie has one of the worst staff-to-student ratios in Australia, yet in 2025 management boasted of cutting more than 200 subjects and 70,000 teaching hours in Arts. He said Macquarie destroyed one of the best ancient history departments in the world, despite management\u2019s own figures showing Arts academics generated large surpluses and despite Macquarie holding a strong credit rating.<\/p>\n
One of the most damning moments came from documents obtained by the union under freedom of information. Those documents showed management had scenarios where budget savings could be made without job cuts. Instead, the university chose scenarios that cut staff and courses. When comparing a scenario that sacked fewer staff with one that sacked even more, management wrote: \u201cWhy not go all the way?\u201d<\/p>\n
That phrase captures the culture staff have been describing across the sector. Not reluctant stewardship. Not careful protection of teaching and research. Not a public institution weighing the consequences for students, staff and knowledge. \u201cWhy not go all the way?\u201d is the language of a corporate restructure, not a university with a public mission.<\/p>\n
Dr Bayeh\u2019s evidence showed the human cost of that approach. She described repeated restructures in the Faculty of Arts since 2020, including a 2025 process where about 70 positions were slated for redundancy. She spoke about the brutal and punitive character of the process, and the experience of staff trying to survive rolling change while continuing to teach, research and support students.<\/p>\n
Dr Jovanovski\u2019s evidence showed how decision-making at Macquarie has become command-and-control. She said academic experts have few meaningful opportunities to influence what is taught or researched, decisions are rushed and secretive, and staff are fearful of speaking up. She gave the example of media studies, where enrolments increased by 40 per cent between 2020 and 2025, yet staff were still told seven positions had to go. She also told the inquiry that the home disciplines of the Macquarie NTEU Branch President, Vice-President and Treasurer were all targeted for cuts, while the home disciplines of faculty directors and heads of school were declared out of scope.<\/p>\n
Macquarie management rejected the union\u2019s claims. Vice-Chancellor Professor S. Bruce Dowton rejected the assertion that the financial crisis was manufactured, and denied any bias in the way union officials or their disciplines were treated. But the questioning showed why external oversight is needed. It is not enough for university leaders to say internal processes were followed. When public institutions cut staff, courses and disciplines on this scale, the public is entitled to know why, on what evidence, and with what consequences.<\/p>\n
This is why NSW Government action is required.<\/p>\n
University autonomy should protect teaching, research, academic freedom and public debate. It should not protect opaque modelling, selective financial narratives, targeted cuts, poor consultation or management cultures where staff feel unsafe to speak.<\/p>\n
NSW needs a modern governance framework for its universities: stronger public reporting, transparent disclosure of restructuring data and consultant inputs, Auditor-General performance audits, enforceable public-good duties in university Acts, real scrutiny of workforce and student impacts, and councils with majority elected staff and student representation.<\/p>\n
Macquarie\u2019s hearing showed what is at stake. A university is not just a portfolio of profitable subjects. It is a public institution built around knowledge, inquiry, teaching and trust. When management asks \u201cwhy not go all the way?\u201d, the answer should be clear: because students, staff and the public good are not costs to be cut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The fourth hearing of the NSW Parliament\u2019s inquiry into the university sector turned to Macquarie University \u2014 and exposed, in stark terms, what happens when public universities treat teaching, disciplines and staff as numbers to be moved around a spreadsheet. The day continued the inquiry\u2019s focus on consultants, data and university restructures. EY, KordaMentha and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27400053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"formats":[],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"work_area":[],"class_list":["post-27400102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-governance-reform"],"acf":[],"dsm_author":{"name":"Vince Caughley","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e9b3f2e373c10af80857d35c4fab45d728442851e6424df1e0c64a028a6a89e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","archive_link":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/news\/author\/vcaughley\/","biodata":""},"dsm_categories":[{"term_name":"Uni Governance","term_id":43,"term_link":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/news\/category\/university-governance-reform\/"}],"dsm_attachment_categories":[],"dsm_featured_image":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-150x103.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-300x206.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-768x528.jpg","large":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-1024x704.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-1536x1055.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile.jpg","et-pb-post-main-image":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-400x250.jpg","et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-1080x675.jpg","et-pb-portfolio-image":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-400x284.jpg","et-pb-portfolio-module-image":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-510x382.jpg","et-pb-portfolio-image-single":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-1080x742.jpg","et-pb-gallery-module-image-portrait":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-400x516.jpg","et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth-large":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile.jpg","et-pb-image--responsive--desktop":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-1280x879.jpg","et-pb-image--responsive--tablet":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-980x673.jpg","et-pb-image--responsive--phone":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile-480x330.jpg","gform-image-choice-sm":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile.jpg","gform-image-choice-md":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile.jpg","gform-image-choice-lg":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile.jpg","full":"https:\/\/nsw.nteu.au\/council\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/OUOF-tile.jpg"},"dsm_comment_count":0,"yoast_head":"\n