Petition against the suspension of student intakes at the University of Technology Sydney

UTS has announced the suspension of new enrollments in more than one hundred courses for 2026. The suspension affects all faculties, with particularly severe consequences for International Studies, Education, and Public Health. These programs have a vital impact on society: they sustain the ability to have enough teachers for schools, the ability for people to work in an internationalised world, the ability to address crises in public health. These programs embody the core mission of a leading public university of technology recognised for its global impact.

• International Studies: 33 degrees in the social sciences are paused, undermining one of UTS’s most distinctive offerings that embeds global expertise and international experience in professional degrees, essential for preparing graduates to live and work in an increasingly international world.
• Education: All education programs, from Bachelor through to PhD level, are suspended, despite an acute national shortage of primary teachers and a growing demand for highly qualified educators.
• Public Health: Core programs are affected, with significant flow-on impacts across the university. This suspension affects our future public health workforce at a time we need it most, for the next pandemic, for reducing the effects of climate change on health, for Indigenous health and for health equity.

While management describes the pause as “one semester only”, in practice the Autumn intake structures the academic year. This means there will be very few first-year enrolments for suspended courses in 2026. The consequences will be felt by students, staff, and the wider community in years to come, and will cause lasting reputational damage to UTS.

We, the undersigned staff, students, alumni, and concerned community members, strongly oppose the suspension of enrolments because of the damage it will cause to the university.

Management has not provided transparency about how the 100+ courses were selected, the faculty policies they are said to align with, their connection to the 400 flagged job cuts, or the role KPMG played in the decision.

We call upon the UTS Council to immediately Unpause the Pause and delay the suspension of courses until a proper, transparent consultation process is undertaken with staff, in accordance with governance standards and with attention to the university’s global standing and staff wellbeing.

We are deeply concerned by the process through which this decision was made, including:

• Lack of consultation with staff, students, and other directly impacted stakeholders, in particular, industry.
• Non-compliance with the university’s Environmental Assessment process, as suspensions were announced before required procedures were completed.
• Bypassing Faculty Board ratification, ignoring established academic governance practices.
• Inadequate risk assessment, including failure to consider academic, financial, and reputational risks.
• Opaque decision-making, with inconsistent reasoning and no clear evidence base.
• No consideration of cumulative impacts on related programs, which will be weakened by the loss of companion courses.