University of Sydney cries poor, then a year later posts $1bn surplus

After job cuts, the University of Sydney has rebounded from Covid with massive $1bn surplus thanks to Chinese students.

University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott said the $1bn surplus was a one-off. Picture: Britta Campion

The nation’s oldest university has booked a $1bn surplus in 2021, despite crying poor in 2020, making a major push to access JobKeeper payments and cutting hundreds of staff.

The University of Sydney’s coffers are now in their best shape in 172 years after recording a $1.05bn surplus, more than four times larger than the sandstone institution’s previous record, after keeping Chinese students enrolled despite two years of Covid-19 border ­closures.

The record surplus was booked a year after the university made an unsuccessful claim for JobKeeper assistance in 2020 and launched emergency spending cuts to head off an ­expected $470m revenue shortfall.

The university’s increased surplus is mainly the result of Chinese students, with Sydney’s inter­national student fee revenue rising by nearly $250m to $1.05bn in 2021 and making nearly 40 per cent of the university’s total income in the year.

National Tertiary Education Union NSW secretary Damien Cahill said the $1bn surplus was “eye-watering” and university staff “will no doubt be floored by these figures”. Last year 223 staff took redundancy offers, which helped to reduce ­employee-­related expenses by nearly $60m in 2021.

“Sydney Uni can afford a fair pay rise for staff and to fix the problem of widespread job insecurity,” Mr Cahill said.

University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott said the result, while strong, was a one-off.

“We are not immune from the continuing uncertain future of international higher education and the growing cost pressures currently affecting the global and Australian economies,” he said.

The University of Sydney’s results follow a swag of growing surpluses for top universities around the country in the past financial year. The sector’s financial success comes despite university vice-chancellors protesting against the Morrison government’s refusal to give public higher education bodies JobKeeper payments at the height of the pandemic and its claim that the Coalition’s reform of student fees constituted a funding cut for campuses.

The University of Sydney also benefited from a $400m ­improvement in investment income, boosted in 2021 by the then still healthy asset markets.

Other major contributors to the record surplus were an extra $140m in research grants from the federal government (awarded in 2020 to compensate for the financial impact of Covid), and asset sales of $100m.

Release of the results comes two weeks after NTEU members at the university held a two-day strike in support of a pay rise and better working conditions.

Professor Scott thanked staff, saying the strong financial result could not have been achieved without their contribution.

He said part of the surplus would be used to recruit more academic and professional staff, and to recognise and reward those currently employed.

Other research-intensive universities also bounced back strongly from Covid.

The University of New South Wales reported a $306m surplus in 2021 (up from a $19m loss in 2020) in its annual report also released on Monday.

It follows Monash University’s $416m 2021 surplus announced three weeks ago.

Other NSW universities, whose results were tabled on Monday in NSW parliament, showed strong improvement in 2021 compared with the havoc caused by Covid in 2020.

UTS reported a 2021 surplus of $109m (from a $50m loss in 2020), Macquarie University posted a 2021 surplus of $62m (a $55m loss in 2020) and Western Sydney University recorded a 2021 surplus of $143m (up from a $22m surplus in 2020).