University of Tasmania to find tens of millions of dollars in savings each year

The University of Tasmania has to save tens of millions of dollars a year to be sustainable, a new report says.

An artist’s impression of the revitalised Launceston campus from the University of Tasmania stadium. Picture: SUPPLIED

THE University of Tasmania has to save $30 million a year to be sustainable and, without millions of dollars in state and federal government money for new infrastructure, might have closed campuses in Launceston and Burnie, a new report says.

A UTAS strategic direction document released late last year gives a frank account of the university’s finances and future.

The institution has admitted it has to stem the flow of students to the mainland — with more than one in five Tasmanians choosing to study interstate — and that it has failed to attract “a balancing number” of mainland enrolments.

More than half the university’s revenue comes from outside Tasmania.

“We have not, in modern times, or even before then, been able to produce a model which allows us to operate in the way we need to,” the document said.

“Now we are more confident in the mission we need to deliver, we cannot afford it to be dependent on scarce public resources ... we have to be able to make our own way.

“Today we barely break even. To be sustainable, we need to generate savings of about $30 million a year.

“That sounds a lot but, in reality, it is necessary for us to be self-sufficient and deliver our mission with the sense of confidence and purpose we require.”

UTAS said there were questions about the viability of its Launceston campus before it received $150 million from the federal government and $75 million from the state government for its Northern Transformation project. UTAS will also chip in $75 million.

It added: “Unless the Northern Transformation project is a success, that question [of viability] will arise again, so it is critical we get this right.”

The University of Tasmania Strategic Direction was formed after the institution held discussions throughout 2018 on a series of themes aimed at guiding the university’s future.

The strategic document said the uni would set its sights on a “simplification agenda”, meaning it would “have to do less of some things so we can do more of other things”.

Acting vice-chancellor Jane Long told the Mercury savings would not be found in cutting jobs.

The document said UTAS would work to create and deliver “distinctive and differentiated” core offerings across the regions to retain the state’s students, produce distinctive research, grow Tasmanian higher education participation, diversify and grow its international student markets and generate the necessary annual savings.

Vice-chancellor Rufus Black signed off: “Together, we can shape a university driven by a sense of passion and creativity, made truly unique by both its place in the globe and the people who belong to it — people bonded by a shared vision of making a positive difference to a place we love and a world we care for.”

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