By Alex Crowe
The University of Melbourne is selling a four-bedroom Parkville mansion once used by a previous vice chancellor, after the Group of Eight institution recorded $273 million in revenue growth in 2024.
The double-storey home opposite Royal Park was listed with a price guide of $7.9 million to $8.69 million this month. The university bought the property for $7.1 million in 2017.
Chief operating officer Katerina Kapobassis confirmed the university was in the process of divesting part of its portfolio but did not give a reason.
The home, which includes nine fireplaces, a turreted viewing tower and a wine cellar, was reportedly designed by famed architect Charles Webb, who designed Wesley College, The Alfred hospital and South Melbourne Town Hall.
The Parkville mansion up for sale.
Profits from the Parkville sale will contribute to the university’s enviable financial position, which includes $12 billion in total assets, financial documents tabled in Victorian parliament on Tuesday revealed.
The university reported a surplus that was $117 million higher than the previous year, driven by 7.4 per cent growth in student numbers, including 11.7 per cent growth in overseas students, and additional research grants.
It also received $58 million from the sale of a campus in Hawthorn, which was listed in the 2024 annual report as a donation.
While reporting a healthy operating income of $3.1 billion, an increase of 9.4 per cent compared with 2023, the university recorded an operating deficit of $99 million for the 2024 calendar year.
Kapobassis said the operating deficit, while slightly higher than initial projections, had been expected.
“It is a result of strategic investments in student experience, our systems and processes, along with increased staff costs and inflation,” she said. “The university is balancing the need to continue to invest to enhance the student, staff and community experience with financial sustainability.”
The university’s bottom line took a hit in 2024 after it was ordered to repay millions in unpaid wages. The total bill hit $72 million last year, including $54 million repaid to workers by the end of the last financial report period.
The report highlighted the final year of Professor Duncan Maskell’s tenure as vice chancellor, alongside a “challenging year” marred by issues from “government reforms to activism on campus”.
The university said it had adopted a “prudent financial strategy to safeguard its mission of education and research” in response to caps on international student numbers.
“The proposed indicative international student cap announced in September 2024 represents a substantial revenue loss for the university with flow-on impacts into future years, at a time when universities are still recovering from the impact of the pandemic on their operations and financial position,” the report said.
“The institution’s goal remains to return to a break-even budget position by the end of 2025, and thereafter to a sustainable operating surplus.”
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