E&OE

JAMES VALENTINE: You are on ABC Radio Sydney, I am James Valentine. News this morning is that the University of Wollongong is going to cut 137 jobs. It is saying it has lost $35 million in international enrollments so it has to offer redundancies, it has to cut where it can. It’s across disciplines, history, maths, geography and humanities. It’s not focused on any particular area. A couple of days ago, Southern Cross University said it was getting rid of its creative arts program because of a lack of demand. I don’t know if that’s related to foreign students or not. They said they are not. I think it’s more related to fees, that they don’t have interest and the engagement in those particular degrees. So, what are we looking at here? Is there a bit of fundamental reshaping of our tertiary sector going on at the moment, both with the pressure of fees and with availability or otherwise for foreign students? We talked to a couple of people on this, but you might have some further insights…Luke Sheehy is the CEO at Universities Australia. Luke, good afternoon.

LUKE SHEEHY: Good afternoon.

JAMES VALENTINE: And Universities Australia is what?

LUKE SHEEHY: We are the national peak body representing 39 of Australia’s comprehensive universities, including University of Wollongong, Southern Cross University and many of the other universities you have probably been talking about.

JAMES VALENTINE: Well maybe I know of these because they are New South Wales…Are these sorts of redundancies, these sorts of changes occurring around the nation?

LUKE SHEEHY: What I have seen, James, while touring around the country over the last 12 months in this job, is that our universities are in a world of financial pain and that is caused because of a number of issues. Firstly, and importantly, international students, the revenue we get from them, the government has taken a sledgehammer to international students. This has been through Ministerial Direction 107, which has effectively slowed down visa processing for our international students at universities and beyond. And we calculate that as resulting in 60,000 fewer visas being granted in the first six months of this year alone. And we think that has been putting at least 14,000 jobs at risk and it is a $4 billion hit to our universities and to the Australian economy. So, combined with the previous government’s changes to the funding arrangements, which effectively gives universities a billion dollars less a year to deliver what we need to do for Australians. That’s a double-edged sword and we are dealing with the ramifications of that right now.

JAMES VALENTINE: So, are these some of the first ramifications we are going to see somewhere like University of Wollongong going ‘well we just don’t have the money, we are going to have to get rid of people.’

LUKE SHEEHY: Well, the reality is vice-chancellors and management of our universities are working very hard to ensure that they can continue to deliver their mission of delivering world-class teaching and research for Australians and more than 140 international source countries where our international students come from. But the stark reality is – with the finances of our universities in the state they are, the sledgehammer being taken to international fee revenue that we have seen through Ministerial Direction 107 and the government’s decision – ultimately some jobs will go, and I think any job lost in higher education is a tragedy.

JAMES VALENTINE: Has it been a mistake to have this as such a fundamental part of the funding of so many universities? International income is such a fundamental part of our universities.

LUKE SHEEHY: I am really proud of international education in Australia. It’s a great success story for the country. In New South Wales alone, it contributes 13 per cent of the state’s GDP and even higher in states like Victoria and the ACT. Over nearly four decades, James, both sides of politics have encouraged universities and other education providers in Australia to take international full fee-paying students. This is not only a great tool for our universities to fund the world-class work we do, but it is also something that is fundamental to our building relationships across the world. When we had millions of students over the last four decades that have come from overseas to study in Australia, they have gone on to be great ambassadors for this great country of ours and it is a fantastic asset, and we should keep it preserved and strong.

JAMES VALENTINE: So, you are not looking at this and saying, look, universities are really going to have to rethink how we do things. You are more saying ‘government get this sorted’.

LUKE SHEEHY: Bearing in mind when the previous government closed our borders for the right reasons during a pandemic, we knew that in the university world it would take at least three, four, if not five years to recover from the pandemic because of the nature of enrollments. People don’t just come for six weeks to a university in Australia, they come for three years. So, we knew the recovery from COVID would take a long time and we were planning on that and working through that. We thought around 2025, we would be getting to a state of recovery. But then the international student debate hit, and they have taken that sledgehammer, and it has extended the pain. So, we are working with the government to ensure we get fair dinkum funding for what we do for all Australian students that come to our universities and the research we do, but certainly ensuring that international education has a bright future for places like Wollongong, for places like Southern Cross University and right across Australia.

JAMES VALENTINE: So, the slowing of the visa process, this must make it very difficult for a university trying to sell itself to India or China. Do students, do families there say, well my cousin is still waiting for his visa, ‘why would I apply here? I can get into Canada tomorrow or those sorts of reasons’…further you are saying if it was going to take three, four, or five years to recover from COVID, it’s going to be a lot longer.

LUKE SHEEHY: Well, we certainly want to see the recovery happen and this financial stability of our universities come back online as soon as possible because we need our universities for the bright future we want in Australia. Think about the big challenges we have. We want a Future Made in Australia and a transition to net zero energy. We want to build things in this country, want new economies, new jobs and new opportunities. We need the research and the talent that our universities provide. In terms of international students, we have actually caught the disease that Canada already had, and they have introduced student cap limits, and they are struggling to fill those numbers. So, what my message is to parents and international students across the world, that Australia is a great place. We are working hard to work with the government to ensure that we have more opportunities for international students coming down the pipeline. Keep thinking about Australia. We don’t want you to think about somewhere else. We are a wonderful place to get an education.

JAMES VALENTINE: Luke, thanks for talking with us.

LUKE SHEEHY: Great to be with you.

ENDS