Across Australia, many universities are facing real financial strain, making it difficult to deliver the education and research our communities rely on. Constantly changing government policies over recent years, from the Job Ready Graduates scheme to international student settings, have hit the sector hard.

For universities without deep reserves or significant assets to draw on, the impact has been especially hard.

The University of Technology Sydney, where painful staff and course cuts are necessary for a sustainable future, according to the vice chancellor.Credit: Oscar Colman

The cost of keeping the doors open and the lights on is not well understood outside the sector. Most of our funding comes from per-student revenue. We receive no other funding for teaching or essential capital investments such as IT, infrastructure and campus facilities.

Less than half of a university’s operating revenue comes from government, and government funding per student has not kept pace with rising costs.

The Job Ready Graduates policy introduced by the Morrison government decreased student fees for courses regarded as “job ready” and raised it for others not regarded as priority areas, and lowered overall the per-student funding received by the universities. The effect for UTS has been a reduction of about $2000 per student overall and an estimated $60 million a year in real terms that is not now available to support education and the student experience.........

© The Sydney Morning Herald