Greens Express Concern over Rates of University Staff Casualisation. (April 10, 2012)

Greens' higher education spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon has expressed concern at the percentage of casual university staff in Australian Universities. Referring to statistics on the My Universities website which show that 27 of Australia's 39 universities have casual staff rates above 20% -- the overall mean is 22% -- Senator Rhiannon said that the Minister for tertiary education Senator Evans should fully implement the Bradley Review’s recommendation for a 10% rise in per student funding in order in part to reduce reliance on casual staff.

Senator Rhiannon stated: "Mr Evans says that My University will drive improvements in quality but how can the quality be improved when a quarter of staff don’t know if they’ll have a job in six months? All the league tables in the world won’t improve quality if there is a big chunk of the workforce in precarious employment and the government doesn’t come to the table with an increase in funding for universities."

According to My Universities, The University of Notre Dame boasts 42.2% casuals, followed by RMIT, 36.3%.

The Australian's Andrew Trounson reports that: "Universities with high casualisation rates say they reflect their use of industry working professionals as casuals as well as clinical and practicum supervisors in health care disciplines who are likewise often working professionals."

We would suggest that the increasing reliance on "soft" funding by universities is a significant factor.