It's the biggest merger of its type in the nation. From late next month, the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia will begin to cease operations and transform to become Adelaide University. The new uni will be home to about 70,000 students and 11,000 staff. But as the clock ticks, some are being caught in the crossfire.
00:00University of Adelaide student Gabby Colloff had planned to go part-time for her third and final year, but an email in February changed that.
00:11I got an email from the university saying essentially my degree ceases to exist.
00:16Under the new uni, Gabby's International Development degree was changing to an Arts major, and she'd get credits for her minor in Gender Studies, which wasn't being recognised.
00:26I felt strongly that this is what I've been doing and I should come out with what I've enrolled in.
00:33We're really concerned to hear that some students, you know, will have their course greatly disturbed and changed going into the new university.
00:42Outside the university's mixed feelings.
00:45It's just been confusing and tough to wrap up.
00:49Things will proceed as they are, not much change for me.
00:53It just made things a bit difficult, but overall it's been nice because we'll get more facilities in the future.
00:58It's not just the students being affected.
01:01There are people that have run courses in their foundational university for many years that have found, without consultation, have vanished from sight.
01:09Adelaide University says there are some changes to most degrees from what's being offered at the foundation universities,
01:16and those changes aim to meet the needs of industry and future employers.
01:21But as a future employer, the new uni is also under fire for failing to so far finalise an enterprise agreement.
01:28People are getting paid, different rates are paid to do the same job across the board, and we need to harmonise that as quickly as possible.
01:35The union says two years wasn't enough time for a merger as major as this.
01:40Staff are exhausted. I believe that staff will fall across the starting line rather than sprint across it.
01:46A supersized university requiring a super effort.
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