Australian Catholic University Reviews 

Poorly run university... read reviews prior to enrolment, wish I had done. Retention is poor eg started with 10 students in early childhood/primary after 12 months I was the only one remaining only to be told that I would be required to do remaining subjects online. Very disappointed. Withdrawn from field.

In the last week, I was considering applying for the position of Information Services Librarian at their North Sydney campus. I quote here from the Selection Criteria document, from the "Core Competencies" section (which I find objectionable and/or incomprehensible):
- Demonstrate confidence and courage in achieving ACU's mission, vision and values by connecting the purpose of one's work to ACU's mission, vision and values
- Keep stakeholder interest at the core of ACU business decisions and ACU service excellence as a top priority
- Work collaboratively internally and externally to ACU to capitalise on all available expertise in pursuit of excellence
- Take personal accountability for achieving the highest quality outcomes through understanding the ACU context, self-reflection, and aspiring to and striving for excellence
- Plan work activity, prioritise time and resources using established ACU processes and technology to achieve optimum efficiency and effectiveness.

Now my problem with the above is that, unless one already IS an employee of ACU (and has a practical and showcaseable battery of instances one can pull-up as examples), these are competencies which are impossible to demonstrate, quantify or provide examples of. These core competencies require a track record within ACU to be exemplifiable at minimum standard. The only other possibility to address these "core competencies" is by generic "vows" that, if in the situations hypothesized above, as a future or prospective employee of ACU, one will do one's best to fulfil those requirements.
I report these Core Competencies here so that anyone can view them and comment on them. In my opinion these are designed to keep anyone but internal ACU current employees away from the job- discouraging all others. What is your opinion? To me it is scandalous, and it is sad that such job ads should be allowed to be published at all. It is an insult to persons looking for a genuine opportunity to be considered for a position within the Library and Information Services sector (such as myself). The irony is made all the more bitter by the reminder notice ACU sent me in my mailbox today, I quote: "Don't miss your chance to apply for a position with a university that has excellent employee benefits, FLEXIBLE working conditions and an INCLUSIVE culture" (capitalisation is my emphasis). Now I would like to ask the general public reading this review, on the basis of the Core Competencies I listed above, do you think ACU is living up to their own declarations of inclusiveness and flexibility?
Given their extremely narrow criteria of selection - I opine NOT!