The final obstacle to the University of Wollongong's Ramsay Centre-funded Western Civilisation degree is no more.
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The National Tertiary Education Union today withdrew its legal action against UOW.
The move comes hot on the heels of the University Council invoking its executive powers to approve the controversial degree.
NTEU national president Dr Alison Barnes condemned the Council's decision because she said it disregarded the overwhelming majority views of its academic staff and the broader university community.
"Just because the Council's decision is legal doesn't make it the right decision," Dr Barnes said.
"The Council decision underscores the lengths to which university managements have gone to erode the centrality of academic governance within universities."
NTEU had taken action in the NSW Supreme Court against UOW and Vice Chancellor Paul Wellings, over his decision to use fast-track approval for the Ramsay Centre degree.
Dr Barnes said the University Council's extraordinary step of itself approving the degree had taken the utility out of the litigation, and effectively shielded the Vice Chancellor's decision from court scrutiny.
"It looks a lot like the university has taken this action because they know we were right and there was a real case to answer in court," she said.
"We initiated the court action against the university because it didn't follow its normal procedures when it fast-tracked approval for the new course.
"The university by-passed its normal academic governance processes, which play a vital role in quality control and are fundamental to ensuring academic integrity and quality, and the Council has done that again by making this decision."
The university welcomed NTEU's decision to withdraw its legal action.
Professor Wellings said the collapse of the NTEU's legal challenge vindicates the university's position in this matter.
"The Fast Track Approval Process has been used regularly by successive UOW vice-chancellors for more than two decades, including for approving whole courses. It is a well-established process," he said.
The university looks forward to welcoming the first cohort of students for the new course in 2020.