The university system could face a system restructure if the funding impact of COVID-19 continues

Writing in CMM this morning policy mavens Frank Larkins and Ian Marshman warn a “major re-shaping” of the unified national system, in place since the ’90s, may be necessary if international student numbers do not recover by 2024.

“This might occur organically through a series of university-led mergers or systemically as a result of government-led policy review.”

In the short-term, they suggest all but seven universities have cash and investments sufficient to deal with the “immediate impact” of the downturn in international student revenue. The seven universities, assessed to be at highest risk are, Monash U, RMIT, UTS, La Trobe U, CQU, Southern Cross U and Uni Canberra.

Larkins and Marshman’s analysis is here.