Draft memorandum gives centre some say on scholarships and staff for western civilisation course

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Ramsay Centre will be able to review the curriculum of a proposed western civilisation degree at the University of Sydney before deciding whether to fund the course, according to new draft guidelines released by the university.

On Monday the university released the draft memorandum of understanding with the centre for comment by university staff.

The draft document confirms details of the university’s proposal previously reported by the Guardian, including that the Ramsay Centre would be allowed to conduct an audit on the course to determine whether to extend it after four years and have some say on staff appointments.

The draft memorandum – which has not yet been presented to the Ramsay Centre – states the curriculum for the proposed course “will be developed solely by staff of the university and go through the normal course approval processes of the university”.

But the Ramsay Centre would have a veto on whether to fund the program after the curriculum was developed.

“If, in the opinion of the Ramsay Centre, the final agreed curriculum does not fulfil the agreed scope and focus of the program, the centre has the right to indicate that it will not fund this program, although the university will have the right to offer the program without Ramsay Centre support,” the memorandum states.

Sydney University staff warned against being 'naive' on western civilisation degree Read more

It states that students would be admitted to the program “through the normal admission processes of the university”, but that the Ramsay Centre would have some say over scholarship selection.

“The criteria for the award of such scholarships will be agreed between the Ramsay Centre and the university, although it is acknowledged that financial disadvantage should be one of the criteria considered,” the memorandum states.

“The Ramsay Centre will be entitled to have one academic member of the centre (normally the director or deputy director) on the scholarship selection committee for the program in western civilisation.”

Similarly, academic staff recruited to run the course would be appointed through the university’s “normal recruitment and appointment processes”, but the Ramsay Centre would be able to have one member of its staff on academic appointment committees.

The document also states that the western civilisation course would offer a “distinctive, coherent and structured program with core units of study in western civilisation”, but that students would be able to combine it with other electives or as a second major.

The university released the full draft memorandum for the first time on Monday and will accept staff submissions until 7 October. It said the memorandum had been “developed to guide the next stages of the university’s engagement with the Ramsay Centre”.

University of Sydney staff push back against western civilisation course Read more

It had been developed by the dean of the university’s faculty of arts and social sciences, Annamarie Jagose, the provost, Stephen Garton, and the vice-chancellor, Michael Spence.

Spence said the university wanted to “gain an accurate reflection of the general consensus” on the degree.

“I have been proud of the respectful tone of our debate regarding these issues so far, when so much of the external commentary has been rather shrill,” he said.

“I feel confident that the discussions will continue in that vein. As well as ensuring the utmost transparency, in undertaking this process it is also important to allow those who feel less comfortable with public discussion to have their point of view heard.”

The Ramsay Centre’s western civilisation degree was the brainchild of the late Paul Ramsay, a healthcare mogul who established the centre with a $3.3bn bequest.

The university confirmed it was in talks with the Ramsay Centre over the degree in June after the Australian National University pulled out of negotiations due to concerns over academic freedom.

Staff at the University of Sydney have been vocal in opposing the negotiations. More then 100 academics have signed an open letter opposing the degree.

The head of the National Tertiary Education Union’s University of Sydney branch, Kurt Iveson, warned that the Ramsay Centre’s objectives were “incompatible” with academic autonomy.

On Monday the university said the amount of money being offered by the Ramsay Centre was “currently unknown”, and that there had been “no agreement between the Ramsay Centre and the university of any dollar figure of any proposed philanthropic gift”.

It said the memorandum of understanding has “not yet been submitted to the Ramsay Centre for discussion” and that it was “unknown whether the Ramsay Centre will support the terms of the MoU”.

“The university will not submit the MoU for discussion until it has gathered feedback from across the staff community,” it said.