Arts and design students from Southern Cross University (SCU) have vowed to fight on in spite of the university’s decision to discontinue their programs.
The university announced last week that, from next year, the university will no longer take enrolments for its standalone Bachelor of Arts degree, or its degrees in Art and Design, Contemporary Music, and Digital Media.
While current students will be able to complete their degrees, no future enrolments will be accepted.
Past and current students from the Bachelor of Art and Design degree at the university have launched a petition opposing the decision, and some of the country’s most significant artists and institutions have also spoken out.
‘What we’re losing here is an opportunity for emerging artists in our community to pursue tertiary level qualifications,’ Bachelor of Arts and Design student, Rebecca Lavery, told The Echo.
‘This is a huge blow, not only to our artists, but to the fabric of our community. You have to ask what this says about the university’s attitude toward the arts and the attitude of society as a whole.’
Vice-chancellor Tyrone Carlin told the ABC that the degrees were no longer viable, owing to falling enrolment numbers.
Funding changes
Professor Carlin has also publicly stated that the changes to higher education funding introduced by the Morrison Coalition government in 2021 may have contributed to this decline.
Under these changes, known as the Job-ready Graduates Package, the cost of degrees in arts, law and commerce were increased, while degrees in science, engineering, maths and technology were made cheaper.
‘The cost of a degree like this, set against the cost of a degree in teaching or nursing, is quite radically different and much more expensive,’ Professor Carlin told the ABC.
‘But there could have been a whole range of other factors at play too. It’s hard to know.’
But current students say they have seen no proof that enrolment numbers were dwindling.
‘They’ve stated in the media that it was that, but that’s not what I’ve witnessed,’ Ms Lavery said.
‘They had a good intake last year, and as far as I know, there have been very few dropouts’.
Calls for transparency
‘The public deserve to have some transparency about what’s really going on here… We should know what informed the decision’.
The students have also questioned whether the university deliberately allowed the arts courses to wither on the vine.
‘I think you have to ask the question – have they been investing in these degrees: funding them, supporting them, promoting them?
‘We’d like to ask them “If the enrolment numbers have been dwindling, What have you done to bolster them?”’
Current students say the way they were told about the axing was cold and failed to provide information about what the changes would mean for them. They were told in an after-hours email from the university’s student services division.
‘That was probably the most disappointing aspect of all of this… the fact that it was communicated by email,’ Ms Lavery says.
Anxiety created
‘We just got this generic students services email when they were already closed. It meant we weren’t able to support each other or to find out any further information about what was happening, so there was this flurry of anxiety with people wondering what it meant – for students, teachers, for the community.’
To sign the petition in support of the students, visit www.tinyurl.com/ym8y285p.
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