I want to be honest with you about what is happening.
The Guild has been warning students about the risk of a university merger for some time. Because nothing has been announced yet, it would be easy to assume that the threat has passed.
It has not.
The WA Government is progressing proposals that could merge Curtin, Murdoch and UWA into a single mega-university. It has spent months examining different options, but has not been honest or transparent with students, staff or our universities about what is happening.
Nothing has been announced, and no final decision has been made public. But the Government has also not ruled a merger out, and we believe a decision may be getting closer.
The lack of an announcement is not a reason to relax. It means decisions that could reshape higher education in Western Australia for generations are still being considered behind closed doors.
Our estimates suggest that a merger could cost more than $1 billion.
That money would not be spent making your education better. It would be spent dismantling and restructuring institutions that have educated generations of Western Australians and built their own histories, identities and communities.
Curtin is more than a name. It is our university. It is the students, staff and communities who have shaped it over generations. A merger could mean course cuts, job losses, larger classes, disrupted teaching and research, and a much bigger bureaucracy that is further removed from students.
It would be an extraordinary waste at a time when students need real support.
More than $1 billion could instead be spent supporting students, reducing tuition costs, fixing the student housing crisis and paying every student undertaking a mandatory placement a liveable wage.
As your Guild President, I am working tirelessly to get these proposals shut down and to make sure public money is spent where it will actually improve students’ lives.
The Guild has always fought for you. We have fought for more affordable food, better housing, fairer academic conditions, stronger student support and a university that listens to its students.
Now, we are preparing to fight for our education and our university.
I do not want to create unnecessary fear, but I also refuse to let our community be caught unprepared. I would rather organise now and never need to use that strength than stay silent until a decision has already been made.
We are working with partners across Western Australia’s universities, including the Murdoch Student Guild, as well as students, staff, unions and community organisations.
Hundreds of students, staff and community members from across WA have already signed up to the Stop The Uni Merger campaign.
We need you to sign up too.
If a merger is announced, we need to be able to contact you immediately and call on thousands of people to stand together against it.
Nothing has been announced. But the risk is real, and until the Government rules it out, we need to be ready.
Sign up now. Stand with your Guild. Help us defend our education and our university.
Dylan Storer, Guild President
president@guild.curtin.edu.au