Staff at Curtin University are reeling at news of job and wage cuts, budget freezes and faculty levy hikes after management told them the budget was in the red.
"People are being laid off," a staff member told WAtoday.
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"It has been affecting morale, people being pulled in and told their contract will not be renewed."
Pro Vice Chancellor of Humanities, Alan Dench, emailed his staff to say the slowing post-boom economy had affected research and contract income across the university, resulting in a 2016 budget deficit.
Revenue streams were unlikely to meet rising costs and the university needed new income sources.
The university would levy an extra one per cent 'Strategic Dividend' on faculties across campus to fund new initiatives in 2017 and asked faculties to freeze 2017 budgets at or below 2016 levels.
"There is no choice but to cut the salary bill," he wrote.
"The harsh reality is that we will not meet the targets 'simply' by adjusting the sessional and casual staffing budgets."
![A cash flow problem has forced Curtin to cut staff.](/web/20161112133849im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/n/f/6/i/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsneud.png/1478845555297.jpg)
He and other members of his office would do some teaching themselves and research academics were "encouraged" to "take the opportunity to look again at how they can get into the classroom".
"We are facing a hard [2017] budget," he said.
"There will be lean years beyond 2017."
He acknowledged the changed circumstances would be a shock.
"Some staff will naturally be feeling devastated," he said.
"I acknowledge that and will do what I can to assist in transitions."
Meanwhile, the union told members a pay offer for the next four years amounted to a 2.5 per cent real wage cut for all staff, if inflation remained steady.
National Tertiary Education Union WA secretary Gabe Gooding said Curtin recorded a surplus of more than $65m in the past year, was forecasting significant surpluses and had averaged more than five per cent underlying surplus over the past six years.
"The so-called current budget crisis is only a result of the University seeking to extract money from operations to add to reserves," she said
"At a time when the Vice Chancellor was rewarded with a 21 per cent pay increase in the last two published years it is extraordinary that Curtin would be proposing a cut to real wages of staff and significant job losses.
"The announcement that contracts will not be renewed will be devastating for the staff concerned as well as for students who will inevitably experience declining teaching quality."
Curtin chief operating officer Ian Callahan would not reveal the extent of the job losses.
"Curtin University is operating in an environment characterised by a slowing WA economy, low growth in student numbers and staff costs increasing faster than revenue," he said.
"A large component of the University's costs relate to staff salaries. Curtin staff received a four per cent pay rise on 30 June 2016, and have had wage increases totalling 12 per cent over the past three years. This is significantly above the WA CPI which totalled five per cent over the same period.
"We need to respond to the financial environment as we develop the 2017 budget. Decisions about staff contracts are made at a local level and each area meets their specific targets."
He said Curtin was seeking proponents for the Greater Curtin project, a strategy to create a mixed-use hub at the Bentley campus. It would be funded by external parties but should contribute to future revenue.
It was also developing new products and partnerships overseas to become a 'global university'.
"The higher education environment is changing significantly and all Australian universities will need to respond," he said.