As the Australian National University faces ongoing resistance to its planned across-the-board cuts as part of its “Renew ANU” plan, their rebuttals to criticism are getting increasingly flimsy. 

One of the latest proposals is to merge the School of Music into another school and halt individual lessons.

The ABC is quoting Dean of the College of Arts and Social Sciences, Professor Bronwyn Parry as saying:

“Music is not under threat, we are investing in its future through a revitalised structure and a renewed curriculum that reflects more than two years of planning, research and consultation.”

Anyone who takes a look at what the ANU has planned for music would have difficulty squaring Professor Parry’s statement with reality. The Renew ANU plan to merge the school of music has faced criticism from the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, and prompted students opposed to the move to put on an overnight concert in protest. It’s difficult to see how folding the school of music into another school can be interpreted as “investing in its future”, but this kind of doublespeak is unsurprising from a university that faces an ever-worsening crisis of governance.

While its vice-chancellor rakes in almost a million dollars a year, and its chancellor spends hundreds of thousands on speechwriting and travel, Australia’s national university has taken a slash-and-burn approach to cutting costs. In 2023, the ANU spent around $54 million on consultants, but now staff and students are bearing the costs of dealing with the budget.

The ANU isn’t the only Australian university plagued by financial and governance problems. The higher education sector needs urgent reform, and Australia Institute research shows what the path forward could look like.

The submission “A Higher Purpose” recommended:

• A focus on education and public research, rather than commercial performance
• Requiring universities to provide an itemised disclosure report for spending on consultants (as is currently the case in Victoria)
• Real-time disclosure of conflicts of interest
• A cap on vice-chancellor salaries and a ban on vice chancellors taking on other paid work
• Funding increased to 1% of GDP
• Empowering the Australian Tertiary Education Commission to scrutinise universities whose governance, course quality and health and safety standards are inadequate
• Amending the establishing acts of universities to ensure the majority of those on governing bodies are democratically elected
• Requiring the councils or governing bodies of universities to hold public meetings

Staff and students deserve better than endless workshopped statements that aim to hide severe cuts to their university. It’s time for the ANU to fix up its act, and for our university sector to return to its focus on research and education.