University of Sydney reports a $300m surplus in 2022

While most universities are floundering in a sea of red ink, the University of Sydney reports a $300m surplus in 2022.

University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott. Photo: John Grainger

The University of Sydney has withstood the financial storm which pulled most universities into deficit last year and has posted a near $300 million operating surplus for 2022.

The solid result comes even though the university’s bottom line worsened by $750m compared to 2021 when it reported a huge $1.05 billion surplus, the first time any Australian university had pushed its annual operating surplus through the $1bn mark.

The University of Sydney achieved a $298.5m surplus in 2022 even as the other big research universities it competes with plunged into deficit, hurt by the loss of a one-off boost in research funding which the federal government had handed out in 2021 and a decline in the book value of investments due to poor market conditions.

The University of Queensland reported a $311m deficit in 2022, the University of Melbourne reported a $203m deficit and Monash University reported a $78m deficit. UNSW, the other university in the big five, has not yet announced its 2022 results.

At least ten other universities have also disclosed deficits so far in 2022. When all 39 major universities have reported the overwhelming majority are expected to be in the red.

Vice-chancellor Mark Scott said the University of Sydney’s 2022 surplus “still provides us with financial sustainability but there is no question we are navigating the challenges currently facing a volatile higher education sector.”

Professor Scott said the university’s massive $1bn surplus in 2021 was a one-off caused by gains from land sales, temporary research support from the federal government and strong investment performance in 2021, all of which were not repeated in 2022.

The university said it had an underlying surplus of $381.5m in 2022 compared to a $453.7m underlying surplus in 2021. It arrives at the underlying result by removing”non-recurring items” such as gains and losses from asset sales, philanthropic donations, and funds which can be spent only on specified capital investments.

Last year $142.3m in philanthropy was pledged to the university.

Professor Scott said the university was “fortunate to be able to reinvest our surplus to support our core activities of teaching and research”.

“We also know our most important asset is our staff, and we are committed to providing the best overall conditions, including maintaining the highest salaries in the sector and expanding our academic workforce,” he said.

The university also said that its domestic undergraduate enrolments this year are similar to last year but domestic postgraduate numbers are down by 19 per cent following a surge during the pandemic.

This year international enrolments are ahead of target, the university said. Undergraduate international enrolments are 2 per cent above target and postgraduate international enrolments are 10 per cent ahead of target.

Full details of the University of Sydney’s 2022 results won’t be known until all NSW university annual reports are tabled in state parliament later this month.