The Victorian Auditor General’s Office has questioned the future of Victoria U and Federation U in its audit report of the state’s universities for 2017.

While the overall sustainability of the sector continues to be strong, the indicators for Victoria University and Federation University Australia are starting to show that they may face financial sustainability issues in the longer term.  While the state’s other public universities grew over the last few years the pair, had declining student numbers over the last five years. Both had net result deficits in 2017.

“It would be prudent for these two universities to assess the relevance and financial sustainability of their current course offerings, as well as their staff profile, the auditor general observes.

The report states that both institutions are addressing risks to long-term financial stability