From financial fire to fiscal frying pan

Professor Brungs has been VC at UTS for nine years and in January will take the short tram-ride to UNSW, where he will replace Ian Jacobs, who has cut short his contact to return to the UK (CMM January 29).

The move is a step-up in scale for Professor Brungs, UTS has 46 000 students and UNSW 63 000. But both institutions have roots in the NSW technical training system and are expected to benefit from the Morrison Government’s funding emphasis on translational research.

Professor Brungs will also feel at home inheriting UNSW’s financial circumstances, both universities have had large international enrolments and scrambled last year to reduce costs.

 UTS had a $43m deficit in 2020, due in large part to a $38m drop in international student fees and $51m in staff redundancy costs. At UNSW, the underlying loss for last year was $63.9m after $192m in savings, including forced redundancies.