There are certain places a CEO doesn’t want to be caught when they’re cutting staff, and enjoying a northern hemisphere summer in Europe or in China is high on the list. Even worse, though, is doing so on the company dime.

So we were bemused to learn that the University of Technology Sydney sent a host of their top brass to these destinations in June and July. That would be at the same time as vice chancellor Andrew Parfitt’s contentious plan to cut 400 jobs kicked off in earnest.