This article is featured in the Newcastle Herald and is republished with permission.
LEADING Australian and international academics have taken aim at the University of Newcastle's "shortsighted plan in a deepening mental health crisis" to "downgrade" its School of Psychological Sciences, which they say will result in fewer Hunter-based mental health professionals.
While an increasing number of people across the region are seeking mental health treatment, there is a grave shortage of qualified practitioners to deliver it.
As part of sweeping changes at the university to save $21.2 million this year, there is a proposal to demote the school of psychology to a discipline.
Experts fear that the change could risk program accreditation, cause psychology students to "shun" the University of Newcastle and ultimately result in fewer trained mental health professionals in the region amid a severe workforce shortage.
The university's Vice Chancellor Alex Zelinsky said the university "greatly values psychology" and recognises its "vital role" in addressing the region's growing mental health challenges.
Acknowledging that psychology courses were growing in popularity, he said the changes aimed to minimise "administrative overheads".
Current and former academics have written to Professor Zelinsky, seeking a change of mind.
They say that for more than 60 years, the university's school of psychology has built an "enviable reputation nationally and internationally".
A staff member who asked not to be identified described the proposed "downgrade" as "ludicrous" and said it was clear that management was "tone deaf" when it came to the growing mental health crisis.
"It's a shortsighted plan in a deepening mental health crisis to save a few dollars and risk the university's reputation," he said.
"We're fighting this on behalf of our community, but to be honest, we don't hold out much hope that they will listen to reason."
Professor Zelinsky said psychology's move to a discipline within a new School of Science would strengthen connections with related fields such as neuroscience, behavioural biology and psychophysiology, and would not impact program accreditation.
"This multidisciplinary approach reflects the way in which psychology increasingly intersects with other scientific disciplines ...," he said.
"We have now commenced reviewing more than 160 submissions received from staff within the College of Engineering, Science and Environment, which includes psychology. Feedback will be carefully considered as we finalise the proposed changes."
'Enormous geographical inequity'
The peak body for Australian psychologists has also thrown its weight behind strengthening regional training programs for psychology students.
Australian Psychological Society chief executive Zena Burgess said there was a severe shortage of psychologists across Australia, and the situation was dire in regional and rural areas.
"We only have 35 per cent of the workforce we need across Australia, and then we've only got two in 10 psychologists working regionally," Dr Burgess said.
"There's an enormous geographical inequity, and it's because people are not trained in locations where they know, so they don't get to work there, and they don't get to stay there."
Studies show almost half of all Australians will face mental ill-health during their lives.
"What we know is people living in regional and rural areas have a clear understanding that psychologists are qualified, trusted and helpful...," she said.
"It's incumbent upon universities to train and make sure psychologists are available for everyone in Australia, including regional areas."
In a strongly worded letter seen by the Newcastle Herald, four former heads of the university's school of psychology wrote to Professor Zelinsky and the pro vice-chancellor of the College of Engineering, Science and Environment, professor Craig Simmons, urging them to reconsider.
University of Newcastle honorary associate professor Miles Bore, University of Melbourne professor Simon Dennis, University of Amsterdam professor Andrew Heathcote and University of Newcastle emeritus professor Patricia Michie said "demoting" psychology simply had no merit.
The leading academics said the change would "negatively impact on the training and supply of mental health professionals" for the region, and damage the university's reputation.
"We expect that such a change would put at risk the reputation of psychology at Newcastle, resulting in a loss of future students, both undergraduate and graduate, to Sydney and other universities...," they wrote.
"We see no advantages, and many serious disadvantages, in changing the structure of the College this way. From a position of significant concern for the university, we respectfully urge you to leave the School of Psychology as a school."
New School of Science
In response to the planned change, staff in the School of Psychological Sciences say the proposal downgrades psychology from one of 13 schools to one of 96 disciplines.
Staff say the move starkly contrasts the federal government's priority to grow Australia's mental health workforce, in which psychology training programs play a central role.
Only about 25 per cent of Australian universities offer psychology training as a discipline, and all but one of the top eight-ranked universities position psychology as a school.
"Newcastle would be an outlier in dismantling its School of Psychological Sciences, signalling to peers and students that psychology is being downgraded," the staff submission reads.
While supporting the university's need for financial sustainability, staff say "relegating" psychology to a discipline will have minimal financial impact.
The School of Psychological Sciences has 37 academics and 10 professional staff who provide undergraduate and postgraduate courses for about 2000 students each year, and offers the largest honours program at the university.
Under the plan, the school of psychology would be scrapped and become one of seven disciplines within a School of Science.
Psychology is one of Newcastle's globally ranked teaching areas, and it's understood that enrollments have been growing since 2019.
Staff fear planned cuts to professional staffing numbers could increase student-to-staff ratios, jeopardising course accreditation.
"These programs are critically important to the continuing expansion of the Hunter region's psychology and mental health workforce, providing a flow of around 400 highly-trained graduates each year, including 30 with a Master in Clinical Psychology," the submission reads.
It comes after the tertiary union said the University of Newcastle planned to cut about 115 jobs in a bid to save more than $21.2 million this year amid weaker international student enrolment demand.
Across the sector, universities are slashing jobs and courses as they chase millions of dollars in savings. Earlier this month, the workplace safety regulator took the unprecedented step of forcing the University of Technology Sydney to pause plans to cut 400 jobs in the hopes of saving $100 million. Similarly, a program of drastic cuts at the Australian National University was canned recently after backlash from staff and students.