Federation University will discontinue its Bachelor of Arts degree from 2023, a move that the National Tertiary Education Union says is an existential crisis for the institution.
Correspondence seen by the ABC from the Executive Dean of Education, Arts and Community, Clare McLachlan, confirmed the cuts in a statement
"The Bachelor of Arts has had declining enrolments for many years [67 per cent since 2018], undoubtedly exacerbated by the [Coalition government's] Jobs Ready Package and the steep increase in the cost of an arts degree, along with other factors, and the current enrolments are not sustainable," she said.
National Tertiary Education Union branch president at Federation University Matthew Abbott said the decision was "shameful".
"Union members, staff members, and students were really horrified to learn of this destructive and short-sighted decision," he said.
"Cutting it means cutting away what makes a university a university.
"You might start to wonder whether a university that doesn't offer a Bachelor of Arts is a university at all.
"It's really important that regional students have the option of studying history, literature, philosophy. It shouldn't just be for students who live in big cities or come from rich families who can afford to send them sandstone universities."
The university sought voluntary redundancies for teaching roles from the arts faculty last year, which it said would make the course more financially sustainable.
Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Wendy Cross said the university had seen its third consecutive year of declining enrolments in the course.
"As part of our plan to be strong and sustainable, we regularly review our programs and courses to ensure they meet student and industry needs and remain viable to operate," she said.
"We are working with three impacted employees and the union in good faith, and we will redeploy staff where possible," Professor Cross said.
National Union of Students president Georgie Beatty said the previous coalition government's jobs ready package had laid the foundations for the cuts to arts degrees.
"This is going to be a compounding problem unless the federal government starts properly funding our university sector," she said.
"We're seeing this impact across regional universities and arts degrees are often the first to go."
Federal education minister Jason Clare has been contacted for comment.
