While 18 universities suffered medium to high financial impacts, the incomes of eight increased or were stable. Overall revenue fell 5% – less than feared – but 35,000 staff lost their jobs.
- Honorary Principal Fellow, Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne
The budget splashed out extra money for almost every sector deemed important to economic recovery (or politically sensitive). But with universities in a state of financial crisis, they missed out.
Universities have legitimate reasons for employing some staff on casual contracts, but the impacts of the COVID pandemic have brought long-standing problems to a head. Now is the time to act on these.
A collapse in revenue and a lack of government support have led to university workforces being decimated to cut costs. This presents a number of longer-term risks for universities and the nation.
We estimate the reduction in international student fees will lead to a loss of 5,100 to 6,100 researchers by 2024, with some universities more affected than others.
The reduced rate of funding to universities (of up to 17%), per place, for national priority courses sends perverse messages to universities.
Researchers modelled the impact of the loss of international student fee income on 38 universities.
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