Finances for the rest of this year look better than expected – but not next year

Vice Chancellor Michael Spence tells staff, “we have so far managed to largely mitigate” the $470m budget shortfall for 2020 through savings measures. Expectations of better semester two enrolments could also help.

But, and it is a big but indeed, international students are not likely to return to pre COVID-19 levels, as originally hoped and “relative gains” this semester will not claw back enough. “This means that we must now look closely at our projections for 2021 and revise our revenue forecast downwards.”

Dr Spence says scenario planning and option exploring are underway but he offers no detail, promising, “more definitive information once it is available.”

But it does not sound good. The vice chancellor talks about decisions to ensure, “the future viable operation of the university.”