THE University of Newcastle is considering merging its School of Humanities and Social Science (HASS) with its School of Creative Industries (SOCI) to help safeguard its disciplines in both.
As previously reported, UON is implementing organisational changes across its colleges, schools and divisions, following a course optimisation program in which it cut 530 subjects.
College of Human and Social Futures Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor John Fischetti said the college would present school changes for consultation in March, but was seeking early feedback on the idea of merging the schools to create what has been given the working title of the School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Work.
A discussion paper sent to staff on Tuesday said government funding reforms - that have made some degrees more expensive to offer or study - and changing enrolment patterns meant under the current structure, "the long-term course and program viability of the two schools has been placed at risk".
He said the SOCI "concept has resonated in certain areas and not in others" and already faced cuts.
"It's about 200 to 300 students short of what would make that school viable as a separate entity," he said.
HASS will become even more vulnerable if, as proposed, it loses the disciplines of criminology to Newcastle Law School and speech pathology to the School of Health Sciences.
"We want to protect the Bachelor of Arts, we want to protect HASS, core fundamental degrees of a comprehensive university," he said.
"We want to protect the creative and performing arts, including music, drama, fine art and our degrees in visual communication and design."
Professor Fischetti said the move was a merger, not a takeover, "not a getting out of the business of creative industries", and would enable programs to be delivered in a more efficient and creative way, while enhancing research potential and streamlining administration costs.
"It would allow us to merge together what is possibly some unique combinations, particularly for the first and second year, and fortify those degrees so we can actually have them for the future," he said.
"What we want to do is have one school, one head of school, one office, looking after all of that and then finding the unique synergies across...the critical thinking that you might say comes out of humanities and the creative thinking that comes out of SOCI."
He said current students wouldn't be affected by any changes.
"There are no plans - and there's nothing in the change paper that will result - that's about cutting programs for students, it's actually about figuring out what we can add and what we can strengthen."
He said there would "potentially" be job losses, but it was too early to tell.
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