Queensland University Omits ‘Merit’ From Hiring Strategy

Selection panels will consider diversity factors including LGBTIQA+, gender and ethnic backgrounds

People walking down the busy Queen Street Mall in the Brisbane CBD in Queensland, Australia on March 29, 2021. Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has ditched the word “merit” from its hiring process, due to concerns of “bias.”

The university, instead, “does not want everybody to look the same” and will focus on hiring a diversity of personalities.

The policy will, however, require selection panels to consider the diversity of responses, including those from Indigenous, multicultural, and LGBT+ backgrounds.

Margaret Sheil, vice-chancellor at QUT, was concerned that “merit” could reflect a type of bias.

“When people say things like ‘We do this on merit,’ they’re actually reflecting the bias of their own experience,” she told ABC Brisbane.

She claimed, “There isn’t a way of being colour-blind that’s not got some form of bias into it.”

“I’ve been working in improving diversity in academic environments my entire career; it’s got nothing to do with contemporary politics,” she said.

“We need to access the entire talent pool, and we don’t want everybody to look the same.”

Liberal National Party Senator Gerard Rennick raised concerns about the policy in a post to X on Nov. 20.

“If it’s not on merit then some people will be discriminated against plain and simple,” he said.

‘Diversity’ To Be Considered

During the hiring process, the selection panel at QUT must consider the “diverse ways in which policies may be expressed”, The Australian newspaper recently reported.

This includes applicants who are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, LGBT+, culturally and linguistically diverse, have a disability, or are applying for a “non-traditional” area of employment.

The panel can also consider how a new hire achieves “equity, diversity, respect and inclusion obligations.”

One academic told the publication the policy to get rid of merit was “bordering on embarrassing.”

Meanwhile, the Queensland public service is also removing merit and will instead consider “suitability for the role,” 3AW reported on Nov. 7.

Panels in the public service will need to consider equity, diversity, and cultural background as part of the new directive.

Going Back to the ‘Dark Past’

In response, executive director at the Australian Institute for Progress, Graham Young, said “unfortunately I think that’s the way the world is tending to function.”

Mr. Young noted this is a trend not just in the public service and academia but also in multinational corporations, adding that “ultimately it’s going to be disastrous.”

“You want bridges to stay up, you want airplanes to fly, you want the best person,” he told 3AW radio.

“You should just want the best person, male or female, I don’t care, black or white or brown or brindle, it doesn’t really matter.

He said historically, merit became the key measure of Western societies to eliminate the class system.

“Now we are going to back to the dark past because some people aren’t able to get there on merit.”