Revealed: The Australian universities that had huge losses in 2020

Australian universities spent millions of dollars on redundancy payouts during the pandemic, plunging them into deficit. Here’s the list of the biggest losers.

Exclusive: Universities have spent hundreds of millions of dollars sacking academics and support staff, as they lobby to open Australia’s borders to lucrative foreign students.

Fresh financial data analysed by the federal Education Department reveals that 15 publicly funded universities made massive operating losses during 2020.

The biggest loser was RMIT University in Melbourne, which suffered a $78.8 million net operating deficit due to a student drought, as the ban on foreign students combined with the world’s longest lockdown for domestic students.

The university sacked 600 staff last year after revenue plunged 10 per cent below its budget target, with income from foreign students’ tuition fees falling by $76 million.

With 130,000 fee-paying students stranded overseas, universities are pushing the federal and state governments to let lucrative international students back to study on campus, following a NSW experiment to fly in 500 students before Christmas.

The University of Wollongong lost $53 million, despite deferring staff pay rises until 2022, introducing an early retirement scheme and borrowing $350 million.

Its annual report warns that “the downturn in student fees will scar the budget position for several years’’.

Macquarie University in Sydney recorded a $52.7 million operating loss, after spending $36.5 million on redundancy payments to more than 300 staff.

National Tertiary Education Union branch president Associate Professor Nikki Balnave has criticised the university’s “Hunger Games process’’ of staff sackings.

La Trobe University in Melbourne was $51.4 million in the red, after revenue fell 9 per cent due to foreign student lockouts.

It saved $2.4 million in salaries after senior executives took a 20 per cent pay cut, and other staff had salaries slashed by 10 per cent.

But it spent $45 million on payouts to 335 staff who took voluntary redundancies.

The University of Technology, Sydney, suffered an operating deficit of $43 million after spending $51 million on redundancy payments to more than 350 staff, and losing $38 million in fee revenue from foreign students.

Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne lost $35.7 million last year, on the back of $30.5 million in redundancy payouts to sacked staff.

Central Queensland University was $33.1 million in the red, after spending $37 million making nearly 300 staff redundant – shedding nearly 10 per cent of its workforce.

Professor Sarah Todd, Pro Vice Chancellor (International) of Griffith University expects high interest from international students in 2022.

The University of New England recorded a $19 million operating deficit, after spending $20.6 million on redundancy payments to 161 staffers.

The only two “sandstone universities’’ to go into deficit were the University of NSW – which blamed the foreign student shortfall for its $24.1 million loss – and the Australian National University, which was $17.7 million in the red.

Murdoch University recorded an $11 million deficit, with both Griffith University and the University of Notre Dame recording a $5 million deficit.

Professor Sarah Todd, vice-president (global) of Griffith University, said there was a “high level of interest’’ from international students hoping to come to Australia next year.

“Ensuring Queensland can capitalise on this demand through the return of international students will help the university become financially sustainable and make a significant contribution to the Queensland economy’’ she said.

International students have been out of Australian universities since the start of the pandemic.

The government data shows that Southern Cross University was $2.8 million in the red and Curtin University ran a $1 million deficit in 2020.

Universities Australia has revealed a 43 per cent plunge in commencements among international students this year, compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

Chief executive Catriona Jackson said 130,000 foreign students are stranded offshore – nearly half of all international students enrolled in Australian universities.

She said she hoped that fully vaccinated students from China and India could “rejoin their friends on Australian university campuses in the near future’’.

Monash University was the top performer financially, with a $267 million surplus last year.

A spokesman said 21,000 international students were enrolled at Monash this year, with 60 per cent studying offshore.

Catriona Jackson, CEO of Universities Australia.

“We are in full support of any program which safely returns international students who provide the country and state with significant social contributions,’’ he said.

At the University of Queensland, which made an $83 million surplus, 21,004 international students were enrolled this year, compared to 20,321 before the pandemic.

Two thirds of students are studying offshore.

“We hope that our international students can return to Australia as soon as possible, but also understand that economic considerations and students’ interests have to be balanced with the current demands on the quarantine system,’’ a spokeswoman said.

At the Queensland University of Technology, which made a $25 million surplus, international students make up 17 per cent of enrolments.