By CHARLENE MACAULAY
VICTORIA University may outsource key services in a bid to cut down on university spending.
Child care and IT are among the “non-core” services being considered as part of the proposal to address recent budget cuts, including a $40 million TAFE funding cut.
In a statement released last week, VU Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Duncan Bentley said the university had been looking at the possibility of some outsourcing, but no firm decision had been made.
Prof Bentley there was the possibility of job cuts if the outsourcing plan was implemented.
“As with many universities, VU is looking at all options to improve the service we offer to students, staff and partners and to focus on our core business of teaching and learning, research and knowledge exchange,” he said.
“If the university finds that non-core operations can be offered by a third party in a way that improves our core business we will certainly consider it.
“With this in mind, we are exploring some options, around our facilities, infrastructure and IT operations to test the market.
“Obviously, there is no point in outsourcing services unless there are strong value benefits both in terms of efficiency and, most importantly, service to students, partners and staff.
“We are expecting some job losses in 2014 as we, like other universities, continue to face budget pressures, but the final numbers are not yet clear.”
NTEU VU president Paul Adams slammed the plan during a union meeting last week.
Mr Adams said the restructuring of 1100 staff last year has caused enormous administrative problems for the university, while academic workloads have skyrocketed.
Meanwhile, a VU performance assessment found low staff satisfaction with the six newly created shared services portfolios announced last year.
“We are really worried about the future of the university … we are worried (outsourcing) will destroy the organisation,” Mr Adams said.
PhD student Natalie Zirngast uses the university’s child care and was horrified that VU considered the services to be non-core.
“It’s an incredibly valuable service for those of us who use it,” Ms Zirngast said.
“It’s a core business in many ways. I know I couldn’t have done the level of study I’ve done without it.”
