Uni swings axe

By KATH GANNAWAY
A FOG of anger, frustration, confusion and devastation greeted the axing of Swinburne’s Lilydale Campus on Friday.
News that the campus would close in July next year came in a podcast from Vice-chancellor Linda Kristjanson, during the semester break.
With everyone from Swinburne students and staff to business, community and political leaders saying they were unaware of the blow that was about to be dealt, much of the anger was directed at Swinburne management.
One staff member who contacted the Mail described the timing of the announcement during semester break as calculating and heartless.
The Mail was told staff were advised of the decision, which includes the axing of 240 jobs across the Swinburne network, by pod-cast around noon on Friday.
However, the first many staff members and students heard of the decision was through the media.
The closure will affect both TAFE and higher education courses offered at Lilydale. Among the TAFE courses which will go are hospitality, recreation and tourism and leisure, a move industry leaders say will have a huge impact on the tourism industry in Yarra Ranges.
Professor Kristjanson said closing Lilydale was one of the hardest decisions, but the right one for the organisation.
She said the changes were about turning Swinburne into a leading university for science, technology and innovation, but also stated the recent State Government $290 million TAFE funding cuts would impact Swinburne by about $35 million next year.
Staff who contacted the Mail over the weekend have questioned the motives behind the TAFE closure, saying some TAFE and VCAL courses were well supported and growing and that it was the higher education sector that was not paying its way.
“This campus is being sacrificed, for what many of us believe is more about the value of the land, to prop up non-performing higher education campuses,” one staff member said.
Another said talk of students being moved to Croydon or Wantirna ignored the reality of students from areas around the Yarra Valley and Ranges who didn’t have transport, and that those campuses were “bursting at the seams”.
“All that will lead to is students opting out of courses, further course cuts and further job losses.”
Healesville mother of four Jacinta Graham will have one subject to complete in her four-year psychology degree when Swinburne closes next year.
She is facing a semester at Hawthorn campus.
“A lot of mature-age students like me have waited to return to study until the kids could cope and then you work around study, work and family.
She said she felt some students might not have started their courses had they known the campus was to close.
“Some of the mums on campus, doing nursing and other courses, as they get their kids off to school have realised with Swinburne so accessible they can improve their lives and still do the school run.
“To go further afield …it’s just too much.”