Wollongong Undergraduates Students Association president Sam Dixon. Picture: DAVE TEASE
University of Wollongong students angered by cuts to a range of courses have decided to take matters into their own hands.
Wollongong Undergraduate Students Association (WUSA) president Sam Dixon said many students had contacted the student union about the course cuts which come into effect this year.
Legal and nursing students in particular are concerned about their career options after the university scrapped both the Practical Legal Training (PLT) course and the midwifery program.
Meanwhile, arts students are left with fewer options after the removal of seven majors from their degree, including majors in the important areas of Gender Studies and Asia-Pacific Studies.
Ms Dixon said students were disappointed they had been left out of the consultation process.
MORE: Midwifery course bumped off UOW calendar
"The Law Students' Society was unaware of the cuts to the PLT until it was announced late last year, even though the university said it had been looking into the viability of the course for a number of years," she said.
"Similarly students in nursing - some of whom had chosen to do their degree at Wollongong so they could go on to do midwifery - were kept in the dark about that decision.
"And it was only during enrolment week [last week], when arts students sat down to pick their majors, that they found out that the majors they had come here to study were no longer available."
Ms Dixon said the student union would be asking faculties to "please explain", while some students were coming up with their own solutions.
"The WUSA women's representative is planning a regular series of free lectures on campus to enable people to study important areas like gender studies.
"And the Law Students' Society is looking into getting a private provider to give students access to the PLT course locally," she said.
University spokespeople have cited "financial pressures" as the reason for the demise of the PLT course after this semester, while "accreditation issues" have seen the midwifery program suspended for 2013, and perhaps indefinitely.
Meanwhile "low enrolments" have contributed to the cuts to the arts majors this year.
However, Ms Dixon called for the process for cutting or altering courses to be more "transparent".
"When making changes such as these the university needs to talk to students and their representative bodies and to take into account a number of factors - not just profitability and course numbers," she said.
"For instance if we want professionals - like doctors and nurses, lawyers - to stay in the region, they need to be trained in the region and not forced to go to the major cities, as they may not come back.
"Meanwhile, we need a wide range of subjects in arts so that students can receive a well-rounded education."