SOS Update

Dear supporters,

We want to give you an update on what's happening at QUT, and to thank you again for your support — it was truly an impactful campaign.

Thanks to the collective actions of all science students and staff, through our rally, petitions, letters and coordinated feedback, the forced redundancies were stopped.

Staff across the Schools of Biology and Environmental Science, Chemistry and Physics, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Information Systems, and Computer Science faced proposed cuts. Among the programs at risk was Medical Physics — QUT is the only Queensland university offering an ACPSEM-accredited postgraduate medical physics program, training the physicists who work in Queensland's hospitals. The people and programs you signed to protect are still here.

The response went well beyond campus. The Australian Institute of Geoscientists, a national geoscience professional body, wrote formally to QUT leadership opposing the dissolution of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, warning that cutting Earth Science capacity at a time of critical national skills shortage — with Australia committed to a critical minerals partnership with the US worth more than US$3 billion — was a failure the country couldn't afford. The forced redundancy story was covered on ABC Radio (Brisbane Mornings) and in the Courier Mail as part of a national pattern universities need to reverse (ABC Four Corners, "Campus Chaos", aired 30 March 2026: Campus Chaos). The issue was also raised in an opinion piece in Times Higher Education (10 November 2025): learn more

But the conditions that produced the 2025 proposals haven't changed. QUT's own 2025 Annual Report tells the story:

• 42 academic staff lost in 2025

• 61 professional staff lost in the same year

• Growth of 1,020 additional students enrolled in the same year

43% of students feel they belong at QUT — against a target of 50.3%

In the same year management proposed these redundancies, QUT returned to operating surplus for the first time since 2021. Investment returns totalled $115.5 million, $88.5 million of which was realised. The redundancy process itself cost $6.6 million.

What happens now matters just as much.

QUT and the NTEU are currently negotiating a new Enterprise Agreement — the legally binding contract governing pay, workload, and conditions for every staff member. This is how the structural problems that produced 2025 get fixed, or don't. We need protections regarding workloads, job security, and consultation rights before any future restructure. These issues are being decided at the bargaining table as we write this.

If you're a QUT student or staff member, joining the NTEU is the most direct way to have a say in how this negotiation turns out: Join NTEU

Thanks again, and we'll keep you updated.

— The Save Our Science team

Source for figures: QUT Annual Report 2025 (tabled in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 2 March 2026), pp.14, 21, 40: QUT 2025 Annual Report