You may have heard about the proposed changes to the budget of the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics. There has been a lot of interest from students about the changes, so the UEC, in collaboration with other Engineering Clubs, is hosting a meeting for students to learn more about the changes, ask questions and have your say into what the student population does. The meeting will be attended by Academic Staff members, Faculty Staff members and UWA Student Guild Executive members, and all will be available to answer questions.

From the meeting, the UEC will compile a submission to communicate students' views to the relevant authorities in the Faculty, and hopefully sway the Administration into amending the proposal to ensure it adequately meets students needs.

All information about the meeting, and relevant information about the budget changes are contained in the letter attached to this email.

Any questions, please email president@uec.org.au

A copy of the letter can be found Below:

Attention Students

Students from across the ECM faculty have organised a meeting by students, for students to learn more about the proposed organisational change in the faculty.  All students are welcome to attend and participate.

Time:                     Wednesday, 20^th October, 2pm.

Location:              Engineering Lecture Theatre 2

Here is a summary of the proposal and effects as they stand right now.

Summary of Proposal

·         The faculty has been operating in a deficit for several years

·         While no faculty is allowed to operate in a deficit, some do. However, the rate of growth of the ECM deficit has suggested the need organisational changes to be made

·         The Dean, W/Prof Dell has proposed a reduction in academic salaries of $4.5 million through a reduction in numbers of teaching and research academic staff.

·         This is proposed to be achieved by a ranking process on

o   50% from research performance

o   25% from teaching quantity (based on number of units taught and class size (Equivalent Full Time Student Load) with bonus points for teaching awards.

o   25% services to the university (e.g. committee work), collegiality and services external to the university.

·         Staff members who are ranked lowly by these criteria will be consulted by the Dean on the timing and method of their departure in line with the Staff Workplace Agreement.

We have been assured that these changes will not affect the quality of our education in any way by the Dean.  It should be noted that the ranking proposed does not have any conditions for quality of teaching except for the teaching awards bonus points.

Potential Effects of the Organisational Changes

The largest problem with the current ranking criteria is the lack of detail given to quality of teaching. There are no quality performance indicators referenced, and the bonus points for teaching awards can only be counted for the previous year, as opposed to all research done by a member of staff. There is the potential for this to reduce the quality, as well as diversity of education that is delivered to students at UWA.

What to Do?

As the budget changes are still in the proposal phase, there is still the possibility that changes to the ranking criteria can be made. The Dean is taking suggestions on the changes, and the UEC will be drafting a submission on behalf of students. To contribute to the content of the submission, as well as gain more information on the changes from Students, Academic staff and Faculty members:

Attend the student meeting at 2pm Wednesday 20^th October in Engineering Lecture Theatre 2 (ENCM:ELT2) to hear more about the proposal and what we can do.

Read the proposal online at http://www.ecm.uwa.edu.au/staff/organisationalchange