After extensive consultation and strong feedback from staff and students, the University of Technology Sydney has confirmed it will scrap its proposed merger of the law and business faculties.
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has confirmed it will not proceed with a proposed merger of the faculty of law, the UTS business school and the transdisciplinary (TD) school, following extensive feedback from staff, students and stakeholders.
As part of its Academic Change Proposal, the university in September released a sweeping restructure plan for staff consultation – including a proposed merger of the law and business faculties, the discontinuation of 167 courses, a reduction of about 134 full-time academic roles, and cuts to its casual workforce.
Vice-chancellor Professor Andrew Parfitt shared that the university had “listened and considered” wide-ranging feedback, which led to the decision to abandon the proposed merger of the two major faculties.
“We listened and considered that feedback and have identified some preliminary outcomes that balance the need to ensure the university is financially sustainable with the desire to lay a strong foundation for long-term success and delivery of high-quality education and research for our communities,” Parfitt said.
Instead of proceeding with the merger, UTS confirmed that the faculty of law and the TD school will “share some services and governance arrangements” to improve administrative efficiency.
But it stated that it is ensuring both faculties will be “retaining their distinctive brand and identity”.
“We still have some work to do to finalise outcomes and release the final change implementation plan, but it was important to provide some clarity to staff before the end of the year,” Parfitt said.
“While it’s never easy to make decisions that affect the work and livelihoods of our staff, I’m relieved that we’ll be able to reduce impacts on staff and achieve the majority of academic staff reductions through voluntary separation.”
The final implementation plan for the academic changes is set to be released in February 2026.
In the meantime, consultation on the second phase of UTS’ Operational Sustainability Initiative – the operating model change proposal – remains open until late December.
