‘This year I’m pretty confident that we are going to run at surplus again’: CDU hits $24m surplus in 2020

Charles Darwin University is back in the black and is set to report a surplus of about $24m in its upcoming annual report.

CHARLES Darwin University will report a surplus of about $24m in its upcoming annual report, primarily thanks to Covid-19.

CDU Vice-Chancellor Scott Bowman AO confirmed he had signed off on financial accounts for 2020, with changes to reduce the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic largely responsible for the result.

CDU has endured financial strife in recent years, first plunging into a deficit of $22.14m in 2015 after a period of steady profit.

The university then recorded a deficit of $21.38m in 2018 and was able to reduce the shortfall to $8.76m in 2019.

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“After running big deficits for a number of years, it’s good,” Professor Bowman said.

“This year I’m pretty confident that we are going to run at surplus again. It won’t be as big as this, because now all of our expenses are coming up.”

Prof Bowman said the surplus would allow CDU to invest in new initiatives, particularly around Vocational Education and Training (VET).

“I’m definitely looking to do a lot more VET online,” he said.

“Fee-for-service VET I think is really important, so seeing what industry needs out there.

“I’d really like this to be one of the biggest providers of vocational online in the country.

“I want to invest in places like Katherine. We’ve got such a wonderful campus and we could use it for leadership and management development, plus farming and horticulture.

Charles Darwin University Vice-Chancellor Professor Scott Bowman. Picture: Che Chorley

“We need to be doing a lot more in the health area.

“There is a massive health workforce need in the Northern Territory. We haven’t got enough healthcare professionals and we should be training them here.”

Prof Bowman said he was also interested in exploring “pop-up” degrees, offering qualifications temporarily if they could not be supported permanently.

He said investments would be made wisely to ensure CDU didn’t plunge back into the red.

“We were walking along the cliff edge. We’re still pretty close to the edge but we’re on the right side,” he said.

“We’ve got to grow our offerings. We can’t cut this place any more.”