An internal survey by the University of Sydney has revealed widespread dissatisfaction at how the university is run, prompting calls from the Greens for vice-chancellor Michael Spence to apologise to striking staff and stop casualising its workforce.
The survey of more than 1000 staff showed the university ranked well below other Group of Eight universities in dissatisfaction levels with executive leadership and how it handled change.
Greens senator and higher education spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon said there had been five strike days at the university this semester, with another strike planned for July, which was ''unheard of'' for the university sector.
''The survey results are a wake-up call to senior management up to the vice-chancellor to change how they are operating. There has been an extended period of conflict. The vice-chancellor should be embarrassed by this,'' she said.
The university will face a further $79 million cut in federal government funding over the next two years as a result of the federal government's imposition of a 2 per cent efficiency dividend, and research cuts, to pay for the Gonski school education reforms. Ms Rhiannon said she acknowledged the financial pressure on universities but criticised the University of Sydney executive's response, which was ''more and more shifting the financial burden onto staff and students - the casualisation of staff and refusal to give them wage rises''.
Ms Rhiannon said the vice chancellor Dr Spence earned a $155,000 performance bonus last year, which was more than the salary of 80 per cent of academic staff at the university.
In the survey, 75 per cent of university staff indicated senior executives weren't listening to them, while only 22 per cent said change was handled well, and just 33 per cent said senior executives were good role models.
The same survey showed very high confidence among staff in their colleagues, their commitment to the university, and belief in the quality of research being done.
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