research assistant

research fellow

lecturer

tutor

postdoctoral research fellow

University of Melbourne

I was working as a Student Service Representative within Academic Services. A typical day could see me either answering phone calls or face-to-face enquiries from both current and prospective students. I learned a great deal about the functioning of Universities and the significant level of bureaucracy that goes into their management. Some of which is very obviously redundant and self-serving.

Whilst my day to day interactions with my colleagues and managers were positive, there was a deep-running current of disrespect and indifference towards staff. I would caution this by saying this was my experience in Academic Services, particularly Stop 1 and the Contact Centre. A complete lack of trust in staff and their capabilities led to significant micromanagement. I'd squarely lay the blame at senior management's feet, as pretty much everyone else that works there are decent and kind people who will make it enjoyable to come to work.

I would underline all of this with the premise that I may just be bitter and jaded after working there a long time. If you enjoy significant direction and oversight in your work, then Stop 1 at Unimelb is the place for you.

When I began as an academic in the late 90s it was such a fun place to work and there was a lot of administrative support to assist with teaching and more personalised support for students. Staff in my area freely connected and collaborated and teaching was reasonably well regarded, which says a lot. It has gradually succumbed to 'brand over substance', research over teaching and real estate over people. Many layers of frontline support for students have gone and been replaced with automated processes and middle management. When I left after 20 years it felt more like a bank than an educational institution- and this might suit some people, but not me. University websites are clunky and hard to navigate, big on glossy pictures and hard to extract specific information. Melbourne's website is one of these and it's symbolic of how it runs. It's IT support is incredibly understaffed for the sheer volume of equipment and locations.  Good things : you will find really lovely people in both teaching and administration (called 'professional' at uni). I always enjoyed working with students. The campuses have a nice physical environment and are well connected to public transport. Great libraries and librarians. Good superannuation. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Wonderfully patient students  and teachers who are quite collegiate and respectful.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Working online was sometimes challenging and sometimes there was impatience  if the technology did not work or was not sufficiently clear.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Great place to work, especially face to face. Everyone is given a chance to speak up and generally most a re respectful and polite. Little or no cultural bias.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
When I last worked there every day was four hours of online learning and teaching with a meeting before classes started. Generally, everything ran smoothly and some students expressed their thanks at the end of the course.

My responsibilities include providing advice, guidance, and support services for human resources processes, policies, and, procedures for the employees who are currently working or worked with the University of Melbourne with a primary focus on transactional processing in Themis HR, including but not limited to on-boarding of the continuing staff, casual staff appointments, and Honorary/Visitor appointments.

In addition, I also worked closely with the Finance and HR Relationship Group to provide exceptional customer service and contribute to ongoing service and process improvement activities.

Work environment is quite independent and relaxed but work itself is quite hands on, a democratic way of leadership surely helps in that. Respectable, helpful organizational culture and a combo of smart & hard work is the reason Uni of Melbourne is top Australian uni from last 13 years in a row and top 35 global university. 

campus is in Parkville and is beautiful, uni has almost 30 buildings and no traffic inside so you can take a stroll and enjoy greenery and peace. 

Worst university I ever worked in and I’ve worked at 7. I was a senior manager, micromanagement, fear of authority, people lied about me and HR accepted it I had to get lawyers in the end to protect myself and my job/career they allowed bullying participated in it at a high level DVC level, professionally unethical classist and elitist

Sustained work mindedness: Working with Melbourne university is one of the biggest opportunities I have been graced in my career. The work is diverse and challenging, which is necessary for one’s growth in professional skills and expertise in the craft. And it is because of this challenging work environment that it requires full on attention and supervision from myself to ensure that the operation runs smoothly. And this sustained awareness of the workings of the workplace on a daily basis adds on to the fatigue at work.

Not a great culture. Management inability to realistically assess workloads, budgets or resources required to complete projects. Resulting in staff lower in the hierarchy having the work dumped on them at the last minute - AND being made to feel like it is their fault if they can't get it over the line, when it was actually due to poor or non-existent planning.

I would not recommend working here if you vue your mental health.

Really good experiece and excelent teachers.
I have learned so much in a short period. Academically, my coursework has provided me with in-depth technical knowledge in the field of Engineering and business management techniques. Along with it, various assignments and group case/projects during the course has taught me how to perform well by working in teams and strive towards the greater output.

I cannot speak for all of Melbourne University, but my area has particularly low morale and very gossipy politics. There is a lot of grudges and talking behind each other's back, and I would recommend somebody looking to get a job here reconsider for the moment as the atmosphere has been dull for about a year. I hope for the sake of everybody there it gets better, but overall it has not been a good experience for me.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Research assistant 7 salaries reported	$48.29 per hour
Research fellow 35 salaries reported	$112,471 per year
Lecturer 51 salaries reported	$134,450 per year
Tutor 25 salaries reported	$78.56 per hour
Postdoctoral research fellow 11 salaries reported	$97,859 per year

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