A post from the VCA Student Union…

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The VCA has only been a faculty of the University of Melbourne since the beginning of 2007 and already the little grubs in the university’s administration are pawing over VCA programs looking for the most suitable courses to cut

On the 15th of May University of Melbourne Provost Peter McPhee announced plans for a new “restructure” of courses at the VCA. The restructure will be effective as of 2009. The new faculty labelled “The Faculty of the VCA and Music” will see the 6 schools of the VCA reduced down to 3 and represents the introduction of the Melbourne Model at the college. The schools of Dance, Drama and Production will be merged into a single school of Performing Arts, The School of Music will be merged with the Faculty of Music at the Parkville campus of Melbourne Uni and the School of Film and television will be incorporated into the School of Art. Undergraduate studies in Film and Television (currently the only undergraduate degree in Film and TV in Australasia) will be axed.

No new funding will be offered to the faculty from the university to ameliorate the crippling 35% funding cut dealt out by the then Minister for Higher Education in 2003-04, Brendan Nelson. Since then the college has limped along, closing some courses, cutting back facilities and overworking staff. Melbourne Uni’s solution to this problem is not to reinvest in VCA but to dramatically escalate these course cuts. 2009 will witness a replay of the severe cuts in Parkville’s Arts Faculty in 2008. Needless to say these cuts will involve similar cuts to staff, the swelling of class sizes and the erosion of the quality of VCA degrees. The university is also likely to start charging exorbitant fees, particularly in the Graduate Program.

In addition to this, the university has refused to fund the VCA Student Union (VCASU) in 2008 and beyond. Given that the VCA Student Union has been one of the most vocal critics of the Melbourne Model it is quite clear that this attack is connected with Melbourne Uni’s generalised attack on the Arts. Melbourne Uni has claimed that for the sake of “efficiency” and due a limited budget (!) it is unable to continue funding VCASU. The idea that one of the wealthiest universities in Australia could not find a mere $115,000 (that’s right VCASU’s funding agreement in 2007 was only $115,000) would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic. This is all the more revolting considering that Melbourne Uni Vice Chancellor Glyn Davis personally “earned” a cool $610,000 in 2007 alone. This is not to mention the Parkville residence, car, discretionary funds and other perks handed to him on students’ money. Without a funding agreement from the University of Melbourne or emergency funding from the State or Federal Labor governments VCA Student Union will have to consider winding up within a year.

On Monday the 12th of May at 2pm, VCA students will converge at Melbourne Uni’s Parkville campus to join Melbourne University students protesting cuts in Arts outside the University Council meeting. We will demand:

1. Additional funding for the Faculty of the VCA.

2. Maintenance of staff positions and preservation of integrity of those positions (i.e.: technical staff trained in specific fields must not be replaced by staff without the equivalent specialisation).

3. Genuine expansion of options for students, not cuts to existing courses.

4. Transparency, genuine consultation with students in the decision-making process.

5. Funding for the VCA Student Union.

Anybody who supports the arts and student unionism is encouraged to join us. Letters of support VCASU’s funding from other student organisations will be much appreciated, as we will stick them up on the “we support VCASU” notice board.

Yours in solidarity,

Graham Smith

VCA Student Union President

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