Research School to cut staff by 25% By Damon Shorter The Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies will be forced to cut almost a quarter of its academic staff by the year 2000 in a move driven by Federal government funding cuts. The entire Division of Archaeology and Natural History of the School - a world-class organisation containing some of the world's most prominent prehistorians and archaeological dating experts - is likely to be disbanded. Director of the School, Professor Merle Ricklefs, described the cuts as "absolutely horrific" but a necessary result of budget constraints. Ten academic positions are due to go in the first round of cuts, half from the Division of Archaeology and Natural History. Outside that division, the biggest cuts are to the School's Division of Economics. Prof Ricklefs predicted other Schools in the university may also face staff losses as the full effects of government funding cuts are felt. To decide which positions would go, the research areas of the School were ranked depending on their relevance to the core research interests of the School, Prof Ricklefs said. Highest priority research areas included Indonesia, China, Japan and Papua New Guinea. Work focused solely on Australia or South Asian countries such as India, was hit with the most drastic cuts. The proposed closure of the Division was denounced by the Australian Academy of Science, the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies, the National Tertiary Education Union and researchers in Australia and overseas. Concern has been expressed about the way in which the research priorities of the School were established after five months of negotiations within the School's Faculty Board. Professor John Chappell, from the Division of Archaeology and Natural History, said that the standard of excellence and the outstanding international reputation of his Division was completely overlooked when the cuts were made. "There are many people both outside and inside the School who think this cut is a very big mistake. "To compare the work of the whole Division of Archaeology and Natural History with that of a few individual researchers in other departments is both insulting and misleading," he said. Negotiations are under way between RSPAS and other university research schools to try and maintain as many staff as possible within the ANU, Prof Ricklefs said. Prof Ricklefs said the School will be forced to cut its recurrently-funded academic staff from 89 to 79 by the end of 1998 and to 68 by the year 2000. "The problem for this research school is the vast quantity of world-class people who work here," Prof Ricklefs said. "Who do we look at cutting in this situation? This place is full of distinguished people." The cuts are the combined result of reductions in Government funding to universities and the expense of recent salary pay increases, he said. "There is real devastation being done to research in this country but particularly to a research institution like this," Prof Ricklefs said. "The Government strategy appears to be to push universities towards full fee-paying positions, particularly for undergraduates. But we don't have that option because we are purely a research and postgraduate training institution," he said.