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Shaping our future

Our mission at the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) is to deliver impactful research and exceptional education that supports communities across our region.

To continue fulfilling our mission, UniSQ must adapt to global trends and sector-wide pressures. We are reviewing our operations to establish a sustainable position that can support a flourishing and innovative university into the future.

We remain committed to delivering high-quality learning and teaching, excellent student experiences, world-class research, and strong engagement with industry and community. Over the past five years, we have invested more than $60 million of University funds into high-impact, strategic initiatives. 

This has included $23 million in supporting student learning outcomes and curriculum design and delivery, $9.5 million in developing new high-demand degrees, more than $10 million in building our research capability, $13 million in teaching spaces including labs and $5 million in improving amenities for staff and students. 

This investment has accelerated our research performance and ensured students and staff have access to modern teaching, learning and social spaces. It has also enabled us to launch a new flexible academic calendar, which is improving student load density, and funded the refresh and development of our degree programs, including the launch of a suite of high-demand allied health degrees at our Ipswich and Toowoomba campuses.

Our staff are central to our success and this is why we are implementing new ways to support, listen to and engage with them during this period of change. By working together, we will maintain our commitment to world-class research, outstanding student experience, and strong engagement with industry and community.

We are supporting our staff during this process through regular drop-in sessions at each campus, all-staff forums, in-person Q&A sessions, and workshops with senior leaders. In addition, we share weekly staff newsletters to provide regular updates and a dedicated SharePoint site for staff.

The University of Southern Queensland's Shaping Our Future initiative is about more than addressing immediate challenges; it’s about building a stronger, more sustainable thriving UniSQ for the long term. Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Karen Nelson discusses how we are aligning our resources, programs, and focus to meet the evolving needs of our students, staff, and partners – today and into the future.

Supporting our people

We are holding regular university forums and face-to-face Q&A sessions to provide our colleagues with the opportunity to hear from and ask questions of the University’s Executive staff.

All University members have access to online resources and information, including forum presentations and supporting videos, FAQs and different ways to provide feedback, contribute ideas or express concerns.

We want everyone to feel as supported as possible as we work through these challenges and reshape UniSQ to achieve our vision for the future. In addition to support offered by the University, we encourage staff and their family members to access confidential support and counselling through our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) on 1300 687 327 or via email eap@convergeintl.com.au

Further information for staff

For more detailed information and to share ideas, staff are encouraged to access the internal SharePoint page.

Contact us

Submit a question or comment via email to AskUniSQ@unisq.edu.au

Frequently asked questions

How will these changes impact current students and current operations?

These changes will not impact the University’s commitment to continuing to deliver high-quality learning and teaching for our students, world-class research, and strong engagement with industry and community.

Universities across Australia, including UniSQ, are facing financial challenges and must adapt to changing circumstances. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, student numbers have been declining while costs have continued to rise. In addition, recent changes to international student visa processing have made it difficult for students from overseas to obtain visas and study at UniSQ.

To ensure the University remains financially sustainable, we need to adjust our costs to better match our income. We have committed to strategies aimed at increasing and diversifying our revenue streams and decreasing costs.

Over the past 2-3 years, the University has invested in several initiatives to increase student numbers. We have had some early indications of potential growth for 2025, with strong demand for our health programs. 

We will continue to invest in the strategies that have been helping us connect with potential students in our local communities and grow our student enrolments further. These include: 

  • Introducing new degrees in high demand disciplines, such as Allied Health
  • Providing early offers to year 12 students (conditional on successful completion of Yr 12)
  • Launching a new Trimester-based academic calendar to provide students with more flexibility about how they choose to study and how many subjects they can enrol in each year
  • Increasing student recruitment
  • Intensifying our focus on the student experience
  • Improving on-campus amenities
  • Providing proactive and personalised support to students
  • Implementing a Secondary Schools Partnership program
  • Liaising with the Study Hubs in our regions
  • Establishing an agreement with TAFE Qld to improve pathways between TAFE and UniSQ; and
  • Increasing investment in both domestic and international marketing. 

The efforts that we are making to increase student enrolments and diversify revenue take time. When we introduce a new four-year undergraduate degree, it takes time to establish, and it will not reach its full potential until at least year four of the offer.

We have taken immediate action in 2024 to address our current financial challenges with targeted spending cuts and strategic budget recovery measures. Immediate cost-reduction actions have included reviewing vacant and non-essential positions, scrutinising non-salary costs, negotiating with suppliers to minimise major contract costs, and implementing a pre-retirement scheme, with 27 staff choosing to bring their retirement forward to the end of 2024.

A small number of change proposals are being considered in departments to help improve our 2024 financial position. These will be finalised in early December.
Further focus on addressing expenditure will be required in early 2025.

UniSQ, like other Australian universities, has fallen to a decade-level low number of domestic enrolments despite increased population growth. This decline can be attributed to several factors. Students are opting for alternative education and career pathways such as free vocational education and training programs, apprenticeships, and direct employment. Increasing economic uncertainties and pressures related to the rising cost of living are also playing a role, particularly for mature-age students and the postgraduate market.

While international student numbers rebounded post-COVID, recent interventions by the Federal Government and changes to policy have resulted in a decline in international student enrolments.

We have been reviewing degrees and subjects over the past few years to make our curriculum more efficient. Many non-compulsory and low-enrolment subjects have been discontinued.  Significant work has already gone into refining and renewing our portfolio of degrees, and further work is planned for 2025.
The University will continue to review its workforce levels and other costs to achieve more sustainable levels of financial performance. This work will continue into 2025. The total number of jobs that may be made redundant is not yet confirmed because staff are providing input as part of the consultation about the proposed changes. The final number will be dependent on the review of operations and future strategy.

Consultation is still taking place across the University within relevant business areas. The number of staff who no longer have a position will be dependent on the review of operations and future strategy.

Twenty-seven staff recently chose to bring their retirement forward as part of a financial incentive scheme provided by the University. 

 
The University is not planning a university-wide voluntary redundancy program. However, expressions of interest in voluntary redundancies may be sought from staff in identical roles within defined workgroups where there is a need to reduce the number of positions in that group.
All areas of the University have been asked to identify where operational costs can be reduced, explore opportunities to streamline processes, re-focus on core activities, improve cross-team collaboration, and reduce duplication.