Lecturers, tutors, academics, administrative staff and other National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) members will strike from 12.30pm for four days to protest failed negotiations for a decent pay rise, more job security, and reduced workloads.

Some students have reported receiving emails from teachers informing them classes may be impacted as “many staff will be joining colleagues across the university … to protest the lack of progress in negotiating an Enterprise Agreement”.

Secretary of the NTEU Victorian division Sarah Roberts described the week-long period of industrial action as “unprecedented for RMIT”, but said staff have “upped the ante” in hope of finally coming to an agreement with university management.

“I’ve been bargaining since 2001, and I can’t recall a longer period of time since the expiry of an agreement,” she said.

“There’s been this absolutely intolerable delay in getting bargaining done [at RMIT] and that’s why we are at this extreme point of taking this week-long industrial action.”

Monash University students were also told to prepare for cancelled classes and reduced support services last Wednesday when hundreds of staff walked off the job for 24 hours.

Monash NTEU members were on strike from noon, following 18 months of failed negotiations for a 4.5 per cent pay rise, more job security, a cap on academic workloads, and the right to work from home.

Sarah Roberts said a “significant number” of staff participated in the Monash industrial action.

“We’ve been bargaining for 18 months and people are getting sick and tired of it,” she said.

“The university management decided to spend over $127,000 on a farewell party for [outgoing vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner,] yet at the same time there’s been more than $10m in wage theft from casual employees.

“This is nothing short of a governance failure. It certainly fails the pub test from the staff’s point of view.”

The industrial action included staff rallying outside the University Council’s Chancellery Building at Monash’s Clayton campus on Wednesday afternoon before they engaged in other strike activities.

The union members then picketed at the Clayton campus bus terminal from 8.30am on Thursday before returning to work at noon.

“We don’t take the decision to embark on industrial action lightly,” Ms Roberts said.

“We only do so if there’s no other choice. There will be an impact on students but we’ll be open to calling it off anytime if the university is open to shifting [an agreement] forward.”

A Monash University spokesman said management remained committed to reaching a fair and equitable agreement “as quickly as possible”.

“We believe all remaining matters can be resolved with continued goodwill and openness to compromise on both sides,” they said.

Since late 2022, the university has had 42 meetings with the NTEU over the dispute.

As chancellor, Mr Thodey will chair the university’s senate, its highest governing body, a position similar to the chairman of a corporation. He said he looked forward to continuing Ms Hutchinson’s work “in striving to ensure the university is known for creating a world-class teaching and learning environment and a wonderful student experience”.

Mr Thodey comes into the top position at a time when the University of Sydney has emerged ­financially strong from the ­pandemic, after managing to retain its lucrative cohort of Chinese students who studied in their homeland during the period of border ­closures.

The university is by a clear margin the most financially strong Australian university, ­reporting a $1bn surplus in 2021, followed by a $300m surplus in 2022.

University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott, whose position is effectively CEO of the university, said Mr Thodey was a renowned leader across a broad range of national life. “His career has changed the lives of millions of Australians through telecommunications and digital technologies,” Professor Scott said.

He said Mr Thodey brought to the university “an extraordinary background that demonstrates a commitment to community, innovation and public service – as well as, of course, his extensive leadership and board experience across research, technology and telecommunications”.

Mr Thodey was Telstra CEO from 2009 to 2015 and then chaired the CSIRO board from 2015 to 2021. He chaired the 2019 Australian Public Sector Review and is chair of Ramsay Health Care and accounting technology company Xero.

He signalled he would be focusing on the university’s ability to create valuable applications from fundamental research. “Research translation for real-world impact is what great universities do, and that will continue to be a priority at the university,” he said.

Mr Thodey also said he would pay close attention to people and the composition of the university.

“We know our community thrives through inclusion and diversity and this will also continue to be our focus as we commit to ensuring the success of a greater diversity of students and staff at Sydney,” he said.

Professor Scott thanked Ms Hutchinson for the key leadership role she had played as ­chancellor since 2013, a position that she had performed without remuneration.

“It goes well beyond our campuses, helping us to reach government, donors, business and the broader community,” he said.

“The improvement she has made to the governance of our university cannot be understated. Her vision, hard work and clear focus have been key to our success, making us financially strong, improving risk management and setting us up to become one of Australia’s most successful ­universities.”

Ms Hutchinson said the university campus was now a very different place to when she commenced as chancellor 11 years ago.

“While we have more to achieve, we have made significant strides,” she said.

“Today, women make up over half of our student community. And by focusing on a series of targeted mentoring, sponsorship and network programs, women now represent more than half of our senior executive leaders.”

Australian Academy of Science president Chennupati Jagadish said mathematics was a “foundational skill across the sciences”.

“Removing the prerequisite to have studied advanced mathematics for certain degrees will leave students underprepared and ill-equipped to complete their courses,” he said.

The University of Sydney announced the change last Monday saying the requirement for students to have passed the advanced maths subject in the NSW year 12 Higher School Certificate would be removed for degrees in commerce, economics, science, medicine, dentistry, veterinary science, nursing and psychology.

The university said the advanced maths requirement would be retained for courses in engineering honours, advanced computing and pharmacy. The change, to be introduced next year, brings the university in line with most Australian universities, which do not require this level of maths to enter similar degrees. The advanced maths HSC subject (equivalent to the year 12 subject called mathematical methods in some other states) teaches the fundamental maths skill of calculus, but is not the highest level of year 12 maths in NSW.

The University of Sydney introduced the advanced maths requirement in 2019, saying it would lift academic standards. But on Monday the university said dropping the requirement would open the way to university for students who did not have the opportunity to take advanced maths at school, a situation exacerbated by maths teacher short­ages.

Professor Jagadish acknowledged that some students were not able to able to access advanced maths. “But we need both excellence and equity, and students have the right to expect both. Removing the advanced mathematics prerequisite does nothing to address the decline in mathematics enrolments at schools and sends the wrong signal to students,” he said.

Australian Institute of Physics president Nicole Bell said, from an educational point of view, advanced maths should be a prerequisite for science and engineering degrees.

“The fact we cannot – because we simply don’t have enough maths teachers – indicates the severity of the maths teacher crisis in Australia,” she said.

Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute director Tim Marchant said he understood the need for the University of Sydney to attract more low socio-economic status and regional students by removing maths prerequisites.

“I’m concerned about the message it sends to parents and schoolchildren,” he said.

Professor Margaret Gardner has left Monash to become the Governor of Victoria, after nine years leading the university.

Her farewell at the National Gallery of Victoria in July was labelled "wasteful" by the union, and included a three-course meal, drinks, and performances by singers Kate Ceberano and Joe Camilleri.

Others have said Monash executives who attended the party amid a cost-of-living crisis are "out-of-touch", as increased financial pressures often greatly impact university students.

"Where was the lavish function for all the Monash casual academics who had more than $10m in wages stolen?" NTEU president Alison Barnes said.

"Staff are under crushing pressure, with two-thirds in insecure employment while uni executives spend outrageous amounts on congratulating themselves.

"The lack of accountability is appalling. The federal government must overhaul the broken governance model in response to the Universities Accord."

NTEU Monash branch president Ben Eltham questioned why the university couldn't use its own arts facilities.

"Is this a breach of the university's policies? And if not, why not?" Dr Eltham said.

"Monash Uni has its own performing arts centre at Clayton. Why wasn’t that used, instead of a no-expenses-spared blowout at the National Gallery of Victoria?

"Monash Uni Council is badly out of touch. While they throw extravagant parties for top execs, the university has slipped to 37th out of 42 Australian universities for student experience."

A Monash spokesperson said the spending was in line with university rules and protocols.

"The event was a celebration of achievement for Prof Gardner and an opportunity to acknowledge … current and former university staff, education, research and engagement partners,” the spokesperson said in a written statement.

During her time as former vice-chancellor, Monash University raised its academic standing to make it into the top 50 universities in the Times Higher Education world university rankings.

However, last year, the uni dropped 10 places to to 54th. In previous years, it had ranked below the top 100.

Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson told Sky News the send-off was a "very bad look".

"The majority of university funding does come from the taxpayer, and, of course, students make a very big contribution," she said.

"HECS debt has gone up an average of $2,700 a year, which is just extraordinary [for students]."

Ms Henderson called on Education Minister Jason Clare to investigate why the university was allowed to spend such a large sum on a "lavish" dinner.

"It's so pretentious, it's so inappropriate, and it comes at the worst possible time."

Activists called on high school and university students to skip class and attend a “Strike for Palestine” demonstration planned outside Sydney’s Town Hall on Thursday.

University of Technology Sydney (UTS) staff were told the university would not penalise students ditching lectures due to “social justice” reasons.

“Staff have been asked to make sure that where students miss a class due to participation in the strike, they are not disadvantaged,” an official note to staff said.

“The University has agreed to this request in the context of the social impact framework, under which UTS supports the rights of staff and students to work towards social justice, advocate for causes they believe in, and voice their opinions freely without fear of reprisal.

“For the university to remain a community focused on learning, growth and social justice, it is imperative that all within the community feel free to express their views, noting that this needs to be done respectfully at all times.”

At the University of Sydney (USyd), a note to teachers and academics warned there may be “attempted disruption of classes” over coming weeks, and to ignore those disruptions if possible.

“Verbal confrontation or arguments are not advised and could escalate and prolong disruption,” the official advice states.

“If the protester(s) wish to make a brief statement, you can allow them to do so before resuming the class.”

Jewish students feeling unsafe

The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) said Jewish students are being made to feel increasingly unwelcome and it appeared the university was bending over backwards to accommodate students who want to protest against Israel.

“The guidelines given by the University of Sydney to their staff are disgraceful and cowardly,” AJA chief executive Robert Gregory said.

“Complete disregard is shown to students who come to university to actually attend class and learn.

“We have now heard from many Jewish students who feel extremely unwelcome in this toxic environment."

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said it was “immensely distressing” to Jewish students to know their peers will march in support of Hamas chanting “violent, genocidal slogans that are a feature of these rallies, and doing so with the blessing of the university”

My Ryvchin also raised the issue of the Cornerstone Cafe at UTS, which has a pro-Palestinian display including a sign stating “Our cafe is 14,121km away from Jerusalem the Capital of Palestine” and another sign saying it had removed Coca Cola and Pepsi, brands that have known linked ties to Israel, and replaced them with “more sustainable alternatives,” above a Palestinian flag.

A USyd spokeswoman said that students had a “long history of using campus for political debate and protest, and we’re committed to respecting their right to express their opinions while also ensuring our teaching and learning can proceed safely and with as little disruption as possible”.

A UNSW spokeswoman has previously stated that the "university protects academic freedom and freedom of speech wherever people express their views within the law," when the AJA made a complaint about an academic's pro-Palestine tweet.

Anti-nuclear protest

University of New South Wales (UNSW) students protested the launch of the uni's Nuclear Innovation Centre, where engineering, maths and science students will research and design nuclear technology.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy spoke at the launch as a push to build a defence workforce capable of handling Australia's AUKUS needs.

"To deliver the AUKUS submarine programme, we need to train a workforce of thousands of Australians, and we're setting ourselves up for success by expanding the pool of young people who study engineering, mathematics, chemistry, and physics," the minister said.

Students Against War gathered on the lawn outside The John Niland Scientia Building, where the centre launch was held.

Protestors said although they are for nuclear energy, they don't support the research into nuclear weapons on campus, and are against the war in Palestine.

"This nuclear innovation hub is the product of millions of dollars of subsidies that the Australian government has given UNSW to facilitate research into AUKUS," protestor Midhat Jafri said.

"We believe militarising our campus is completely unacceptable.

"Campus is a place UNSW should be educated. It's not a place UNSW students should be involved and be complicit in genocide and in the development of nuclear weaponry."

The levy, which is effectively a redistributive tax within the university sector, would help fund Education Minister Jason Clare’s plan to boost the numbers of less-privileged students in higher education, including those from low socio-economic status backgrounds and from ­regional and remote areas.

The Universities Accord ­interim report last June urged the government to consider a levy on international students, with the revenue raised used to pay for priorities across the ­higher education sector.

But following warnings from the international education ­industry that a tax on inter­national student fees would be seen as ­targeting international students and turn them away from ­Australia, a more general levy based on other revenue indicators is seen as a better option – ­although the new measure, while designed differently, is still expected to hit the universities, mainly in the Group of Eight, that earn big sums from overseas students.

Latest figures show that, in 2022, the University of Sydney earned $1.4bn from inter­national student fees, Monash University earned $906m, the University of Melbourne earned $877m, the University of NSW $753m, and the University of Queensland $614m.

Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson said that the Go8 universities remained “opposed to any revenue-raising measure that effectively comes on the back of international ­students”.

“Any measure which taxes our general revenue is effectively a backdoor tax on international students. It is unfair, not in the ­national interest and poor public policy.

“It also undermines our hard-won and enduring successes in international education and risks damaging our global reputation,” Ms Thomson said.

“It ignores the fact that this is a quick-fix solution to what is a fundamentally structural issue and that is how do we, as a nation, fund our … research effort.”

She said the Go8 universities invested $7.7bn annually into research and received only $2.8bn from governments.

The Universities Accord final report, produced by an expert panel chaired by former NSW chief scientist Mary O’Kane, is expected to be released by Mr Clare in advance of the Universities Australia annual conference next week in Canberra.

However, until the government releases its response to the report – which will not come immediately – it won’t be clear which accord recommendations it will accept.

The less-wealthy universities, which stand to benefit from the redistributive levy, are also suffering from the federal government’s deliberate slowdown in processing of international student visas as it works to reduce Australia’s net migration levels.

Two weeks ago, 16 universities, mainly those designated by the Home Affairs Department as having higher visa risk levels, wrote to Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil that they stood to lose $310m in international student fees this year unless the department rapidly cleared the backlog of unprocessed student visas.

Last Friday, Ms O’Neil had an online meeting with most of the vice-chancellors who signed the letter but universities say the situation is little improved.

Charles Sturt University said on Tuesday it was still waiting for visas to be processed for half of its new cohort of international students.

James Cook University vice-chancellor Simon Biggs said the government had not yet changed the student visa settings.

Computer science honours student Leo Shchurov told the committee automation was becoming so accessible that even people with no IT skills could use ChatGPT, or other similar platforms, to create a script to do their work for them.

Mr Shchurov said two skills that remained important in an AI workplace were curiosity and adaptability.

Fourth year law and information technology student Raphaella Revis said she would add critical and analytical thinking to the list of key skills in the age of AI.

“What I would like to see is people being taught how to analyse AI itself,” she told the hearing of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training, which is inquiring into the use of AI in the education system.

She said that for AI to offer benefits, humans needed to think and analyse.

“I don’t think we should let AI purely automate everything because that takes out a lot of the human elements,” Ms Revis said.

Both students said assessment in the age of AI should not focus on giving students a grade or a number, but instead giving a broader picture of their knowledge and skills.

Mr Shchurov said one of the worst aspects of the education system was year 12 school assessment, which reduced a student’s achievement to one number “without giving a proper multifaceted representation of what each student is capable of”. He said the structure of year 12 destroyed curiosity because if a student became curious about something, teachers couldn’t explore it if it didn’t contribute to the final mark.

“Once the students learn that it’s not worth going out of their way to do cool things because it doesn’t contribute to the final mark, that’s when they start to lose their curiosity and that’s when they stop being able to adapt to new changes,” Mr Shchurov said.

Ms Revis said that there needed to be “purpose-based assignments” and students needed feedback on where they could improve.

“I think there does need to be a bit more emphasis on practical applications and mixing and integrating generative AI into assignments to reflect the future of the workplace,” she said.

Ms Revis said it was important for school and university students to develop their analytic skills and be able to exercise their own judgment independent of AI.

“Then whichever industry they’ll go into, they can look neutrally at the output of the AI,” she said.

Looking at the field of law, Ms Revis said it should not, and would not, automate entirely because, for example, it was unlikely to take into account personal factors or the intent that lay behind a person’s action.

Mr Shchurov said that in the engineering and IT faculty where he studied, tutors were generally neutral or supportive of students using AI.

Ms Revis said the law faculty did not permit students to use AI.

Lecturers needed training in using AI in teaching and assessment, including in how to detect when AI was used by students and “not to just blatantly suspect students of it”, she said.

The partnership will see university credit points allocated to students who complete HEX Ed short courses that have been developed alongside tech-giant Atlassian that teach entrepreneurship, technology and business start-up skills.

Students can then use that credit towards completing a Bachelor of Commerce at USyd or using it to apply to other universities, many of which have different criteria when recognising credit.

USyd deputy vice-chancellor of education Professor Joanne Wright said HEX targets students who are often underrepresented in higher education – something the university wants to improve as per its 10-year plan.

HEX co-founder Chris Hoffman said even though recognising students' prior learning as official university credit is common in the US, this is believed to be the first partnership of its kind in Australia.

“A HEX program could be the difference between a student that goes on to have quite a traditional career path, and a student who embraces the exponential future and all its possibilities," he said.

"HEX gives students a credit-bearing opportunity to explore the world of innovation and entrepreneurship – regardless of whether they’re enrolled in uni."

Short courses are most popular among 30-44 year olds looking to upskill in their current profession, but are becoming more popular among universities as Australia's technology and engineering skills shortage continues to grow.

The 65-year-old woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, said Professor Martin Nakata threatened her in front of a staff meeting of approximately 30 people in November.

The woman, who is a senior member of the university's Indigenous Education and Strategy department, has been off work since January 3 after a WorkCover claim for 'acute stress' was accepted following the alleged incident.

Professor Nakata is deputy vice-chancellor of Indigenous education and strategy at JCU and a Member of the Order of Australia.

He is alleged to have said the university must increase Indigenous student numbers from 677 to more than 1000 in one year or he would "take that spear off the wall and spear you” to the alleged victim.

“That is a significant increase in Indigenous students,” the woman said. 

“Personally, I would love to see that. But it is not a realistic increase. Especially at a time of such high employment, we have seen numbers fall right across the board. 

“Also, he had no plan or no details on how to do that; it was all left up to me, and I was told that if I didn’t meet that target, he would spear me.”

The woman said she told Professor Nakata after the alleged incident in November she felt “humiliated” by his threatening language. 

She said he apologised but has since not spoken with her despite having offices next to each other. 

According to the woman, Mr Nakata told her he was “only joking” to which she replied “nobody laughed and then you continued to say it two more times in three days”.

“We are in offices next to each other, and we normally speak half a dozen times a day, but since I spoke to him about his comments, he hasn’t spoken to me once," she said.

Earlier this month she made an official complaint to the university. 

She said making the complaint increased her stress because she was worried that Professor Nakata’s standing in the community would prevent the university from responding adequately.

Professor Nakata is an Indigenous education scheme grant recipient from the Australian Research Council and author of four books. 

He is the first Aboriginal/Indigenous person from the Torres Strait Islands to obtain a doctoral degree.

The Australian Research Council describes the academic as "one of the leading Indigenous scholars in Australia through his extensive work to improve the educational outcomes of Indigenous students in the higher education setting”.

“I don’t want to ruin anybody’s life,” the woman said – explaining that it was her and her husband’s application that led to Professor Nakata becoming a Member of the Order of Australia before their working relationship broke down. 

“I love my job and I would love to stay in that job, but it’s obvious we cannot work together anymore.”

A JCU spokesman confirmed it was “aware of the alleged incident”.

“All such allegations are taken seriously and handled in accordance with the university policies and procedures," the spokesman said.

Professor Nakata was contacted for comment, but did not respond at the time of publication.

The current 81 per cent approval rate is down from 86 per cent in 2022-23, 91.5 per cent in 2021-22, and 89.9 per cent pre-pandemic in 2018-19.

Just over 139,000 overseas student visas have been approved since July 1, which is why this year's migration numbers to drop well below last year's record of 577,295 visas granted.

The lowered approval percentage is part of the federal government's effort to dramatically decrease the number of 'non-genuine' students travelling to Australia, who are more interested in working rather than studying.

For example, students who apply to complete a diploma-level vocational subject are less likely to be admitted than those applying to learn sought-after skills, like those required to work in engineering or technology fields.

A Department of Home Affairs spokeswoman told The Australian visa approvals need to uphold the integrity of the recently shaken-up student visa program.

“The department has seen increasing levels of integrity concerns across the student visa program,” she said.

“The department received higher levels of fraudulent documents, fraud related to English language testing, non-genuine claims and non-genuine subsequent marriages being presented in student visa applications.

“The department will refuse a visa application to non-genuine applicants who do not meet regulatory requirements and where fraud is present.”

The government's restrictions also hope to shift perception of Australia on the international stage as a high-quality education provider.

Highly inflated international student numbers have also been blamed for straining housing availability and government services.

"[Universities] do not want Australia to be known as a country where you come here, you get exploited, you don't get educated properly and frankly the course you signed up on wasn't quite what it looked like," the Minister for Home Affairs Clare O'Neil said.

"So we've got a bit of a repair job to do … the things we are doing are important for that sector. They're generally supported by providers of education and that's because they know we've got to fix this, otherwise it will really go off the rails."

There is a current global trend of limiting student migration, with Canada announcing a two-year cap on foreign students that will cut numbers by 35 per cent, and Britain forbidding its overseas students from bringing dependants with them.