Education on the casual side

SYDNEY- Cutbacks in government grants over the past decade have forced Australian universities to boost income from other sources. For instance, they have begun aggressively marketing education overseas-- mostly in Asia-to lure foreign students. However, they still face budget shortfalls, which have resulted in reductions in staff and spending (less in marketable courses such as business studies and more on courses such as philosophy that don't attract many students). Engineering tends to fall somewhat in the middle.

One way down-under universities are saving money is by relying more on part-timers, referred to in local parlance as "casuals," who are paid by the hour and don't have retirement benefits or vacation and sick leave. Surveys suggest one in six university teachers is now a casual, and statistics from the federal Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs show 78 percent of the new teaching jobs in the past three years have fallen into the casual category. Julie Wells, spokeswoman for the National Tertiary Education Union, believes the actual number may be even higher. Making the same arguments often heard in the United States regarding the use of adjuncts, she says increased use of casual lecturers and tutors means students don't always get the support they need. "People who are paid by the hour are not always available to students," she says. What's more, these positions don't provide a suitable career path for teachers. The system is also fraught with uncertainty.

A recent newspaper report quoted a University of Sydney school of biological sciences e-mail sent to casuals on its list at 9:30 a.m. for a class beginning in a half hour: "We need fill-ins for a shift this morning and a shift this afternoon, both in lab 308. If you can do either shift, please contact me ASAP" If you're not sitting at your computer you miss out, one frustrated recipient recently complained. While the system is universally unpopular, no group predicts the trend to casuals will end, given its effectiveness in containing costs.

Copyright American Society for Engineering Education Sep 2001
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