nteu uts
From dispute
to a better uts
What’s on this week?
No Job Cuts,
No Course Cuts
O-Day Rally!
Stand up for public interest research and teaching by rallying with staff, students and the wider community on O-Day.
1pm, Sat 30 August
Outside UTS Tower
From Dispute to Resolution
All Staff Town Hall
Join us to hear from NTEU reps who will be unpacking management’s thin arguments around the necessity of job and course cuts, revealing the realities of UTS finances, and presenting a viable alternative for the future of UTS.
1:30pm, Fri 29 August
CB03.05.010, UTS (online available)
Nothing about us without us.
The NTEU formally lodged a dispute with UTS, claiming that the University Leadership Team (ULT) failed to meet the requirements of the Initial Consultation clause in our EBA because the reasons they provided were irrelevant, outdated, or misleading.
Built on the efforts of so many NTEU members, and with a process in the Fair Work Commission, this dispute has forced UTS ULT to pause the cuts, reopen initial consultation, and give the detailed and transparent evidence we should have had in the first place. They are threatening to sack 400 of us, we deserve the real reasons for their proposal.
We haven’t stopped the cuts yet, but we have made incredible progress together and had Fair Work acknowledge our right to transparent, genuine consultation.
We now have the following:
- Two weeks additional consultation (closing Wed 27th August)
- Additional evidence for the rationale of the cuts
- A team of staff (6 FTE equivalent) seconded to developing alternative proposals
We know that job cuts will hurt UTS more than it will help and now we have to make management listen!
Petition
UNPAUSE THE PAUSE!
Petition against the suspension of student intakes at UTS
UTS has announced the suspension of new enrolments in more than 100 courses for 2026. The suspension affects all faculties, with particularly severe consequences for International Studies, Education, and Public Health.
While management describes the pause as “one semester only”, in practice the Autumn intake structures the academic year. This means there will be very few first-year enrolments for suspended courses in 2026. The consequences will be felt by students, staff, and the wider community in years to come, and will cause lasting reputational damage to UTS.
To: UTS Council and UTS Leadership Team
We call on UTS Council and UTS Leadership Team to:
1. Immediately reverse the temporary suspension of new student intake, pending a full and transparent review, and to inform potential students and the public.
2. Undertake genuine consultation with students, staff, and governance bodies in our Faculties.
3. Comply with all Academic governance, workplace health and safety, and other legislative requirements as a public education institution and as an employer before taking further actions.
Our university community deserves decisions that are transparent, accountable, and in the long-term interests of staff, students, and our communities.
Unpause the pause! Protect our faculties. Protect our university.
Add your voice!
Sign the petition today.
More on the suspension of student intakes at UTS
The suspended programs have a vital impact on society: they sustain the ability to have enough teachers for schools, the ability for people to work in an internationalised world, the ability to address crises in public health. These programs embody the core mission of a leading public university of technology recognised for its global impact.
-
-
- International Studies: 33 degrees in the social sciences are paused, undermining one of UTS’s most distinctive offerings that embeds global expertise and international experience in professional degrees, essential for preparing graduates to live and work in an increasingly international world.
- Education: All education programs, from Bachelor through to PhD level, are suspended, despite an acute national shortage of primary teachers and a growing demand for highly qualified educators.
- Public Health: Core programs are affected, with significant flow-on impacts across the university. This suspension affects our future public health workforce at a time we need it most, for the next pandemic, for reducing the effects of climate change on health, for Indigenous health and for health equity.
Management has not provided transparency about how the 100+ courses were selected, the faculty policies they are said to align with, their connection to the 400 flagged job cuts, or the role KPMG played in the decision.
NTEU members are deeply concerned by the process through which this decision was made, including:
-
-
- Lack of consultation with staff, students, and other directly impacted stakeholders, in particular, industry.
- Non-compliance with the university’s Environmental Assessment process, as suspensions were announced before required procedures were completed.
- Bypassing Faculty Board ratification, ignoring established governance practices.
- Inadequate risk assessment, including failure to consider academic, financial, and reputational risks.
- Opaque decision-making, with inconsistent reasoning and no clear evidence base.
- No consideration of cumulative impacts on related programs, which will be weakened by the loss of companion courses.
-
-
