University of Melbourne reveals 450 job losses as COVID-19 creates revenue hit, drop in international students

Australia's richest tertiary institution, the University of Melbourne, has become the latest Australian university to announce widespread job losses, telling staff it will axe 450 permanent staff. Key points: The university said its decision to cut its workforce came after a "major review" It said the impact of international students not being able to enter the country would be felt for "many years to come" The National Tertiary Education Union criticised the move and said cutting jobs should be the "last option" It comes as the ABC on Thursday obtained an internal document from this year showing the university had budgeted $4.2 billion dollars on capital works over the next decade — a figure that has been criticised by some of the university's staff. "The decision to reduce the size of the university's workforce has been a last-resort measure to combat the financial crisis caused by COVID-19," vice-chancellor Professor Duncan Maskell said. The vice-chancellor's announcement came on the same day an ABC investigation revealed the university had accepted liability for "wage theft" claims, which the National Tertiary Education Union said could be as high as $6 million. "We are deeply sceptical when Australia's richest university cries poor and claims its only option is to cut 5 per cent of its workforce," NTEU president Alison Barnes said.