Bachelor degrees in areas including information technology and science will no longer be offered at Charles Sturt University's Albury campus, as part of a restructure in response to the coronavirus pandemic and financial issues that started before 2020.
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CSU announced this week that Bachelors of Information Technology and Science will be available online rather than on-campus in Albury, six Bachelor of Business degrees will be consolidated into one single degree with specialisations, and the 2021 Bachelor of Speech and Language Pathology intake will be suspended for a review.
Bachelors of Outdoor Education and Health and Rehabilitation Science will be cut completely from the Albury campus.
CSU Acting Vice-Chancellor John Germov said 4 per cent of students were enrolled in courses that are set to change.
"These changes will strengthen our financial position, meet the needs of our regional communities and deliver a better experience for our students," he said.
"It also ensures our academic staff do not invest effort in course offerings that are not resonating with our students and communities."
IN OTHER NEWS:
CSU Deputy Vice Chancellor Heather Cavanagh also appeared before the Senate's COVID-19 inquiry this week, saying the course changes had been coming for a long time and were just fast-tracked by the pandemic.
"Like every other Australian university, Charles Sturt is facing a complex financial challenge and environment as a consequence of the bushfires and then COVID, changes in higher education and changing professions, student demands and regulatory requirements," she said.
"Regional universities have grown phenomenally.
"We have, in some areas, grown too fast and expanded too thin - then COVID hit.
"So it's more like a perfect storm, rather than a single factor."
CSU announced last month that 100 jobs would be lost in the university's restructure, but Professor Cavanagh told the inquiry that was just the first round.
"Then we have a round coming up in September, so we're probably looking at 200-plus," she said.