Under proposed staffing changes announced by the university earlier this month, five of eight professors and associate professors working within its Government Discipline would lose their jobs.

The university has proposed replacing them with lower-level staff to balance out what it describes as a “top-heavy” workforce.

But academics and students warn that the proposed changes send the wrong message and could result in the loss of some of South Australia’s only state politics experts.

“They are punishing promotion,” said one staff member, who spoke to InDaily on the condition of anonymity.

“By working your way up, you just put a target on your back.”

Flinders University’s Discipline of Government currently employs about 13 staff and is responsible for the study of political science, public policy and international relations.

It is considered one of South Australia’s leading political science institutions, with many of its graduates finding employment in the public sector.

It has a chilling consequence

InDaily understands that about 20 PhD students could have their supervisor relationships upended if the proposed changes go ahead.

One PhD student, who did not want to be named, said both of their supervisors were “on the chop”.

“I have to assess OK, do I stay at Flinders, can I continue there, because my supervisors are really important in terms of the mentorships they provide,” they said.

Undergraduate student Sima Gem said she was concerned about the future viability of courses taught by senior academics, saying the proposed changes were “not sustainable and don’t make sense”.

“We’re all a bit on edge at the moment,” she said.

“For them to be getting rid of these experts kind of hurts and makes me concerned about going forward with honours.”

A business case sent to staff earlier this month and seen by InDaily states the proposed changes aim to ensure “long-term sustainable growth in both teaching and research within the Discipline of Government”.

It states a previous 2018 restructure “had the effect of creating an unusually top-heavy structure”, where the discipline’s senior academics focussed on research and lower-level staff were tasked with teaching.

“This structure limits mentorship for teaching specialists and succession planning for research capability,” the business case states.

“The aim of this change is to create a workforce structure that facilitates effective mentorship, career progression, succession planning, student experience, research concentration, and common purpose.

“In doing so, it will also reduce reliance upon casual staff.”

Flinders University states its proposed changes would result in an overall increase of 1.2 full-time-equivalent staff.

It undermines the whole scholarly pursuit.

But National Tertiary Education Union SA president Dr Andrew Miller said the discipline needed an extra 3.8 full-time staff to cope with its current workload.

“On the university’s own workload documentation, 13.8 staff currently carry the workload of 17.6 staff. All but six staff are at least 20 per cent over a full workload, with the highest being 73 per cent over,” he said.

“This constitutes an egregious management failure to comply with the terms of the enterprise agreement and to abide by legislative obligations to provide a safe workplace.

“We are calling for no redundancies and then actually the hiring of many more staff because the evidence suggests they’re massively understaffed.”

Miller said cutting senior academics “signals to staff that career progression is a trigger for blunt budget-driven change exercises” and would result in the loss of acquired knowledge and experience.

“It has a chilling consequence, not just for morale, which is already at very low points, but the whole promotion system of a university is premised on people who perform well and can demonstrate that they’ve become leaders in their fields, then they get promoted to associate professor or professor,” he said.

“If a university starts routinely culling people that achieve those lofty heights, they’re really sending a message that promotion and excelling in your field could lead to your job loss.

“It undermines the whole scholarly pursuit.”

InDaily understands Flinders University is currently considering feedback on its business case and will announce whether it plans to go ahead with the proposed staffing changes early next week.

In the meantime, Greens MLC Robert Simms has tabled a motion in parliament’s upper house calling on Flinders University to reconsider its proposed changes to “ensure no decrease in the capacity, capability and expertise” within the Government Discipline.

His motion also asks the upper house to recognise that the university’s business case “reduces the number of staff able to supervise PhD students” and “increases the number of junior teaching specialist academics”.

Simms, a Flinders University graduate, told InDaily that there was a “pattern” of South Australian universities devaluing the work of their disciplines of law, politics and government.

He said Flinders University’s Discipline of Government was a “leader” in political studies, with a history of respected academics including Haydon Manning, Dean Jaensch and Andrew Parkin.

“Having more staff is always welcome, but that shouldn’t come at the expense of experienced academics who are able to supervise PhD students and are leaders in their field,” he said.

“There is a question here for the state government about why they continue to focus on concepts like university mergers, rather than advocating at a federal level for more funding for our university sector so we don’t continue to have these sorts of debates.”

In statement to InDaily, a Flinders University spokesperson said its College of Business, Government and Law was consulting staff on a proposal to “improve the operations and performance of the discipline of Government, enhance student experience and create opportunity for advancement through a more balanced workforce structure”.

They said in response to staff requests, the consultation period was extended to afford more opportunity for feedback.

“In a spirit of genuine consultation, we will continue to engage directly with our staff during those process,” they said.

“The University is in communication with the NTEU.”

The spokesperson did not say what budgetary impact the proposed changes would have on the university.