Covid crunch hits UTAS

Surplus falls $54m in 12 months, international enrolments down

THE University of Tasmania’s surplus slumped by 75 per cent last year as the Covid-19 pandemic hit revenues, its annual report reveals.

The university recorded a 7.4 per cent drop in revenue from $769m to $712m in the 2020 calendar year and a 0.2 per cent decline in expenditure from $696m to $694m.

The net result was a surplus of $17.7m, down from $72m in 2019. In 2018, the surplus was $119m.

The university is in little danger of becoming insolvent; the annual report shows it holds funds under management valued at $311m, although that amount has decreased by 26 per cent from $422m the previous year.

A university spokesman said total student numbers actually rose, from 40,111 to 47,392, during the pandemic, buoyed by a number of new courses, such as those offered to laid-off workers looking to retrain.

The number of local students rose from 31,325 to 38,956 and the number of overseas students fell from 8786 to 8436.

The report noted times are tough for educational institutions.

“Like all Australian universities, much of our financial challenge is in international education,” it said. “With national borders closing in 2020 and likely to be highly controlled for a long time to come, we will see fewer international students in the years ahead.

“State border controls also reduced the arrival of interstate students last year, further impacting our revenues.

“Even before the significant impact of Covid-19, we were committed to a path of sustainability, knowing full well it would be tough.

“Despite the size of the challenge, we remain determined to address it in line with our values with the objective to become a sustainable operation by the mid-2020s.”

The number of high-flyers at the university continues to fall. Six executives were paid more than $375,000 in 2020, down one on the year before.

The highest-paid, ViceChancellor Rufus Black, received about $979,000.