The University of Newcastle has been fielding plenty of enquiries from staff about its early retirement scheme.
The voluntary scheme is one of several measures proposed to address a $58 million fall in revenue this year in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The scheme is open to continuing staff over the age of 55 with at least 5 years service who are not casuals and not on fixed contracts.
Senior staff such as Academic or Teaching staff members of the Executive Committee, Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Pro Vice-Chancellors and current Heads of School are excluded from participating in the scheme in a bid to maintain a sufficient level of experience in these pivotal management roles.
Subject to Tax Office approval, the university expects to begin receiving applications by mid October.
The scheme will be capped to a maximum of 150 eligible staff.
The National Tertiary Education Union maintains the scheme and other cost-saving staff and salary measures are not needed as the university has sufficient cash reserves to ride out the economic impact of the pandemic.
