Vice-Chancellor to Alumni: Deakin Warrnambool is here to stay

Dear Warrnambool Alumni,

On Monday morning I met with Warrnambool staff and students to provide details and answer questions regarding our Council’s commitment (determined at its meeting on 16 September) to the continued operation of the Warrnambool Campus under a focussed, continuing, long-term and more sustainable model that will:

• ensure a student experience at Warrnambool consistent with Deakin’s LIVE the future strategy and equivalent in quality to the student learning at other Deakin campuses
• fulfil Deakin’s public purpose
• address the financial losses of the Campus.

At its meeting Council requested that the University management develops a change management proposal for the Warrnambool Campus that would meet these requirements. As a consequence, and in accordance with clause 68 of the Enterprise Agreement, the University has developed a proposal to introduce workplace change and my meeting on Monday was the commencement of consultation with affected staff.

Key aspects of the change proposal include:

• a reduced course offer from 1 January 2017 aligned to student demand and strong graduate employability outcomes
• closure of the Warrnambool Corporate Centre from 1 January 2017
• a reduction in Campus maintenance
• a reduction to staffing in line with the more focussed model.

More details are available here.

As I said on Monday, I acknowledge that this has been a hard year for our Warrnambool staff, students, alumni and community as we have worked towards a more sustainable model for the Warrnambool Campus. I appreciate your resilience and your continued contribution to our core business of providing an enduring learning experience for our students. test.

Best wishes,

Jane.

Professor Jane den Hollander

Vice-Chancellor