The troubled University of Canberra has its fourth vice-chancellor inside a year, following stand-in boss Stephen Parker’s prompt resignation.
Chancellor Lisa Paul told the university community that Professor Parker, who had been recruited to hold the reins pending former federal opposition leader Bill Shorten’s arrival in February, had asked to depart immediately because he had lost confidence in the institution’s governing body.
Professor Parker had been teleported back to the university he previously headed to deal with a budget and leadership crisis marked by the abrupt departures of vice-chancellor Paddy Nixon last December, and interim head Lucy Johnston about a month ago.
Professor Nixon’s exit was revealed four weeks after he left the university with 15 months remaining on his contract. It subsequently emerged that his final year’s pay had totalled A$1.785 million (£913,000), an all-time record for any Australian vice-chancellor.
Canberra is Australia’s third smallest university. It has never explained why it paid Professor Nixon so handsomely, saying only that he “received payment as per contractual arrangements”. In October the university refused a National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) freedom of interest request for details, insisting that disclosure would be “contrary to the public interest”.
Less than a month after his arrival, Professor Parker announced that at least 200 jobs would go in a sweeping restructure of Canberra. “The university itself is responsible for this unsustainable position,” he said at the time. “We cannot expect any external assistance and must take urgent and significant measures to rebalance the institution.”
Deputy vice-chancellor Michelle Lincoln will now take over pending Mr Shorten’s arrival. NTEU branch president Craig Applegate said that having set a record for vice-chancellor remuneration, Canberra was now setting “unwanted records” for leadership changes. “How can job losses continue with this turmoil at the top?” he asked.
The union’s Australian Capital Territory (ACT) secretary, Lachlan Clohesy, said the cuts should cease immediately. “If UC’s leadership can’t sort itself out, we cannot have confidence in their ability to sort out the rest of the university,” he said.
Dr Clohesy said the NTEU had been raising governance issues at Canberra for the past year, and both the governing Labor party and the Greens – which together form a voting majority in the territory’s legislative assembly – had committed to a review.
He said the federal government’s promised expert council on university governance was not enough, and the ACT government should honour its pledge. “We need a parliamentary inquiry.”
Ms Paul said the council had “acknowledged” its governance obligations. Changes had been made to both the governing body and the executive team, and the council had committed to a governance review following an earlier “positive” review in 2023.
She said the council had “been clear” about its financial challenges and most Australian universities were in deficit for similar reasons. “This has been a challenging period for all of us at UC,” she said.
