[LINK] Canberra Uni's IT going to India

[Jan Whitaker]

brought to my attention by a friend in America:
>Are you familiar with 
>this? 
>http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25162611-5013040,00.html


Jobs lost as Canberra Uni offshores


Fran Foo | March 10, 2009

THE University of Canberra will transfer IT jobs to India despite 
calls from the National Tertiary Education Union to reverse its decision.

It is understood technology services firm Wipro has been contracted 
to manage the university's IT systems, networks, application 
development, student administration and payroll.

A university spokesman confirmed the transition to the new provider 
would take place in stages over the remainder of the year. The move 
was not connected to the economic downturn and was part of the 
university's reform agenda, he said.

"This is the last component of an administrative reform program that 
began two years ago when the vice-chancellor made it clear the 
university had up to 150 more administrative staff than was normal in 
the sector and more resources needed to be put into education and research."

The changes will improve the university's administrative capability, 
the spokesman said, as well as reducing the likelihood of having to 
lay out large sums for technology upgrades.

The university's NTEU branch president Craig Applegate said attempts 
to dissuade vice-chancellor Stephen Parker had been futile.

"Our members are against sending jobs overseas. We've made our 
position known to the university, but we've hit a brick wall," Mr 
Applegate said.

The union would plan its next move but would not go on strike, he said.

The job cuts ran counter to Kevin Rudd's message to organisations to 
retain jobs, especially in light of the economic crisis, he said.

"Most of our funding comes from the commonwealth so this goes exactly 
against what the Prime Minister is saying," Mr Applegate said.

"We're the University of Canberra and we'd really like to see more 
support from the Canberra community.

"We have yet to see any proper justification, in cost savings, for 
sending these jobs overseas."

The university said the affected workers would bounce back and find 
jobs, and they would be adequately compensated.

"The job market remains quite strong in Canberra for the kinds of 
positions affected and the university has a voluntary severance 
scheme more generous than its enterprise bargain requirements," the 
university spokesman said.

The tenure of Wipro's engagement is unclear.




Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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