Sydney’s universities have record enrolments but falling teacher numbers

Student-to-staff ratios at some of NSW’s top universities have significantly increased,prompting concerns it has led to a decline in teaching quality.

The University of Sydney has recorded the biggest increase after shedding hundreds of academic jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic but gaining almost 15,000 student enrolments,including 9533 international students.

The University of Sydney has shed academic jobs but boosted enrolments.

The University of Sydney has shed academic jobs but boosted enrolments.Janie Barrett

According to student and employment figures in its annual report,there were 21 students for every academic staff member at the university in 2021,up from 16 students per staff member in 2020.

Sydney University student representative council president Lauren Lancaster said the widening student-to-staff ratio was galling,especially in light of the institution’s$1 billion surplus posted in 2021.

“For students,our class sizes are ballooning and it also means tutors don’t have time to give students good feedback,” she said.

“There’s a really glaring disconnect between what the university likes to say they care about and how they’re walking the walk. It’s really bad,our learning conditions are absolutely diminishing in quality.”

Most universities were hit by a downturn in international students during border closures,but Sydney University increased enrolments by 41 per cent.

A Sydney University spokeswoman said the institution was actively recruiting a two-year backlog of approved academic positions that have remained vacant due to the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market.

“Our strong operating result in 2021 is a one-off and the result of savings measures we put in place at the start of the pandemic,as well as better than predicted student recruitment and retention,” she said.

“It also included a series of one-time returns,such as property sales,strong investment yields and donor gifts and bequests that can only be spent as instructed.

“The quality of our education offer remains world-class. We’re Australia’s leading university for graduate employability,ranked first in Australia for the past five years,and fourth in the world.”

At the University of NSW,which recorded a $305 million surplus in 2021,the number of students per teaching staff member widened from 19 in 2020 to 21 in 2021,based on its annual report staffing and enrolment figures. The report showed student numbers increased by 2368 between 2020 and 2021.

A spokeswoman said the student to staff ratio remained stable and “small fluctuations” could relate to a number of factors.

“There is no clear trend currently and the university remains committed to delivering a first-rate education and maintaining the highest academic standards,” she said.

National Tertiary Education Union NSW secretary Damien Cahill said universities had used the pandemic as an excuse to make structural changes and cut staff.

“If you look at the reported expenditure of universities ... you’ll see across the board spending on staff is down,” he said.

“The impacts upon staff are quite profound. People are feeling intense workload stress and it’s having real mental health issues and inevitably that’s going to affect the quality of education that students get.”

Lancaster said the University of Sydney’s surplus had become a major talking point on campus.

“They cried poor all throughout the last two years to justify job cuts and austerity and that simply flies in the face of what we actually know to be true,” she said.

“There is no reason why the university is not able to give staff a pay increase. There’s really nowhere for the uni to hide anymore and a lot of people are very disillusioned with the state of education in Sydney and Australia.”

Meanwhile,at the University of Technology Sydney,there were 23 students per full-time equivalent academic in 2021,up from 21 in 2020,based on staffing and enrolment figures in the annual report.

At the University of Wollongong,the ratio of total enrolments to “academic activities” staff was 20 to one,up from 18 to one the previous year.

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Daniella White is the higher education reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.

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