The head of architecture at Sydney University has resigned in protest over what was claimed as an underhanded attempt by the school’s dean to poach students from other institutions.
The dean of the architecture faculty reportedly used information from an admissions centre database to offer more than 100 students a guaranteed position, breaching regulations that state personal details must not be used for soliciting students to change their course preferences.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that head of architecture, Professor Sandra Kaji-O'Grady, quit after the dean of architecture, design and planning, John Redmond, sent letters to students guaranteeing them a place if they switched preferences to Sydney University.
A colleague, Ross Anderson, also resigned in support of Kaji-O'Grady.
Last month, the majority of the department had called for Professor Redmond's resignation in a letter of protest.
The academic staff criticised the ‘autoctratic’ management style and were alarmed at measures being taken to significantly boost student numbers, taking advantage of the government’s unlimited places policy, amid ongoing concerns about resourcing the existing number of students.
The head of the body that oversees the Universities Admissions Centre has since commented that as the university has made efforts to address the incident, it is unlikely to take any action.
