How USQ will be hit by $29 million government freeze

THE University of Southern Queensland will lose $29 million of funding under the Federal Government's university funding freeze, announced last year.

Professor Geraldine MacKenzie is beginning to make her mark on University of Southern Queensland campuses at Springfield and Ipswich. She is a member of the Queensland Bar Association, American Bar Association and the International Bar. Picture: Bev Lacey

>>RELATED: USQ Vice Chancellor calls for more university funding

THE University of Southern Queensland will lose almost $29 million of funding under the Federal Government's university funding freeze, announced in December last year. 

The Chronicle can reveal Federal Department of Education projections show an impact on USQ's bottom line to the tune of $28.7m by 2021 as a result of the funding freeze on undergraduate domestic places. 

USQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Geraldine Mackenzie warned the sector-wide freeze would affect regional areas hardest.

She also said growth in placements in high-demand areas at USQ like nursing and education would be stymied under the freeze.

"Because of high demand, those programs are already nearing caps imposed because of the funding freeze," she said.

"If we go over the cap imposed by the funding freeze we don't get any government funding for those students. 

"The reality now is that we can't increase numbers in programs like nursing and education, which regional areas need.

"In a couple of years we won't be able to meet the needs of these critical areas.

"It leaves the community in a real bind and we really hope that the government will recognise this and give more support to regional communities and the regional communities that we serve." 

The projections show the university losing $2.2m this year, $4.1m in 2019, before blowing out to an $8.8m difference in 2020 and $11.8m in 2021. 

Prof Mackenzie said there were no current plans to cut places, courses, or jobs as a result of the loss of funds. 

"We don't have any plans for job losses. We just have to be very careful and depending how we're hit next year, we might have to manage that with natural attrition or other things. 

"We can't give any guarantees at this stage, but we're not planning anything at the moment."

Professor Mackenzie said the university was seeking to increase its income by attracting more international students and more domestic full-fee paying students, but noted that was harder for regional universities to achieve than it was for inner-city universities.

"Every university is doing the same thing. It's not something that's going to be particularly effective in increasing our budget."

Over recent years the Government had encouraged the growth in university places through its demand driven student system. As a result universities, like USQ responded by building new infrastructure, introducing new courses and developing more opportunities for students to take up university studies.

"To freeze funding at 2017 levels will inevitably hamper growth strategies and student support activities," Professor Mackenzie said.

"Our mandate and mission is to serve our regional communities and that's what we do. It's disappointing that we're unable to grow in a way that our regional communities are going to need.

"We're in the business of providing industry relevant programs and job-ready graduates. That's what we pride ourselves on and we're going to continue doing that." 

USQ directly affects jobs and productivity, spending, and research and innovation in its regions through its own annual expenditure of around $300 million and also by the tens of millions of dollars spent each year by its students.

Originally published as How USQ will be hit by $29 million government freeze