Did you know that the UTS University Leadership Team (ULT) are proposing to disestablish the University Academic Programs Office (UAPO)?

This independent central team is responsible for the governance of the curriculum approval process, quality assurance of curriculum information, and provision of advice on academic policies. You have very likely engaged at some point with this team that plays a vital role in supporting and advising faculty-based professional staff and academics on course accreditation processes, set up and management of curriculum data in CASS, interpretation of policies, drafting of admissions requirements, and use of the various curriculum systems (CASS, CIS and OCAP).

Losing this team will introduce significant academic risk for the University, leading to possible compliance breaches that could result in heavy fines, damage to reputation and poor student experience. At this time when the Government is commencing an Inquiry into University governance, UTS cannot be taking such risks.

The proposal uses the replacement, in November 2024, of CIS and OCAP with a new curriculum management system, CourseLoop, as the key justification for why the UAPO needs to be disestablished.

However, the proposal to disestablish the UAPO does not include:

• A comprehensive evaluation of the UAPO’s critical functions and their necessity, regardless of the technology in place;
• An accurate representation of the capabilities of CourseLoop and its ability to replace key UAPO functions;
• Meaningful consultation with all impacted stakeholders to explore viable alternatives.

As a result, the proposal‘s argument that CourseLoop will eliminate manual data collation and that the UAPO’s role was only necessary due to inefficiencies in the previous systems—is fundamentally flawed. This argument ignores:

1. The broader functions of the UAPO in ensuring curriculum quality control, regulatory compliance, and policy governance, all of which remain essential regardless of technological advancements.
2. The system’s actual capabilities, which have been overstated in the proposal, and the continued need for human oversight in managing curriculum data.

The introduction of CourseLoop was a major and costly change process but has raised concerns about how it was conducted. UAPO staff have been kept out of key decision-making regarding the design of CourseLoop and of the new business processes, and now staff across the university are grappling with the ramifications of not involving our own experts throughout this process.

We are yet to know the impact of the CourseLoop rollout not only on the broader UAPO functions, but also on staff in the faculties who will be responsible for the wide range of responsibilities that the UAPO has previously managed. Nevertheless, the University management is proposing to disestablish the UAPO before the system has been fully implemented and evaluated, making the process even worse. Given how things are going so far, if anything we could use more staff in a central academic services function to help manage the many serious issues that have arisen since the launch of the new system in December 2024.

All major changes should be based on empirical evidence, not assumptions. The University needs to reconsider its approach and retain a central academic services function while Courseloop is integrated and assessed. This aligns with the Vice-Chancellor’s principle of testing changes before implementing structural changes and allows for:

• A thorough evaluation of the skills and expertise required for curriculum governance and management;
• A strategic transition period to facilitate knowledge transfer and risk mitigation.

Join us in calling upon UTS Leadership Team to abandon the plan to disestablish this crucial UTS work-group. This is a time when the skills, expertise, invaluable institutional knowledge of UAPO team acquired via decades of experience could be used to ensure that UTS programs are well-positioned to meet the challenges ahead.

In Union,
Sarah Attfield

Petition Text

I believe that the work of a central academic services team is critically important to the functioning of our public university, the University of Technology Sydney.

The troubled rollout of a new curriculum management data system CourseLoop is not the time for the university to attempt to make savings. UTS staff need the support of the UAPO, and the significant academic and financial risks from losing this team far outweigh any temporary savings.

I join the NTEU’s calls for genuine consultation with all affected staff, providing all stakeholders and decision-makers with accurate and complete information before making any decision about disestablishing or restructuring the UAPO.

Petition Instructions

Only the NTEU will have access to the names of people signing this petition and will never share these with UTS.

Since we must determine the level of support from current UTS staff, we ask that you affirm whether or not you are a current UTS staff, student or alumni.

If you would like to leave an anonymous message to the UAPO team, please do so in the box provided. These messages will be shared anonymously as part of this campaign.