The money spent retrenching people from universities in Australia¡¯s biggest state exceeded the institutions¡¯ losses because of border closures, a report shows.

An audit has found that the 10 public universities in New South Wales (NSW) spent A$294 million (?159 million) making 2,162 positions redundant in 2020. This surpassed the A$287 million decline in fees and charges from overseas students, whose numbers fell 7 per cent to about 107,000.

The?, from NSW auditor-general Margaret Crawford, raises questions over whether the retrenchments were justified by the pandemic¡¯s financial impacts.

Damien Cahill, NSW secretary of the National Tertiary Education Union, said the 10 universities had more than compensated for an overall A$361 million in lost fees and charges by clawing back A$436 million in spending on non-employee expenses such as travel, consultants and contractors.

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¡°The redundancies were not necessary,¡± he said. ¡°Universities have chosen to pursue a strategy that they were looking to do in any case, and they¡¯ve used the crisis as an opportunity.¡±

While six of the 10 universities recorded deficits last year, Dr Cahill said some of them would have been in surplus without the ¡°redundancy bill¡±.

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Redundancy spending at the state¡¯s richest institution, the University of Sydney, more than doubled to about A$29 million last year. A spokeswoman said voluntary redundancies had been part of a ¡°financial shock recovery plan¡± that also included deferred capital works, a recruitment freeze and restrictions on travel and equipment purchases.

¡°We take our financial management responsibilities very seriously,¡± she said. The redundancies had helped staff who wanted to leave ¡°while providing us greater flexibility to meet the challenges we know will come over the next couple of years¡±.

Charles Sturt University, which shed almost 200 positions last year, said more than 90 per cent had been voluntary. ¡°It wasn¡¯t done lightly,¡± said interim vice-chancellor John Germov.

¡°We identified areas where we believed we could reduce staffing, or improve business processes with fewer staff, and asked people to step forward if they wanted to take a voluntary separation.¡± He said the redundancies had not been triggered exclusively by Covid, with the university facing a A$16 million ¡°structural deficit¡± before the pandemic hit.

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The auditor-general¡¯s report also shows that Sydney was one of two institutions that increased their earnings from foreign students in 2020, notwithstanding the pandemic¡¯s impacts. Fees from overseas students rose about A$43 million to more than A$1.1 billion, with students from China providing 77 per cent ¨C about 32 per cent of Sydney¡¯s entire revenue.

At one stage last year, Sydney appeared well placed to qualify for the federal government¡¯s JobKeeper employment subsidy programme, which was designed for large organisations at risk of surrendering at least half of their turnover because of the pandemic. Sydney¡¯s application, based on projected losses over a one- or three-month period, failed after the government?tweaked the rules?to force universities to demonstrate losses over six months.

Sydney said it had applied because ¡°we met the government¡¯s criteria at the time¡­and had an obligation to our staff to seek support where it was available¡±.

Dr Cahill said JobKeeper may not have been the appropriate rescue package for universities but insisted that more federal support had been warranted. He said the bailout costs would have been a ¡°tiny fraction¡± of the total JobSeeker bill.

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The report shows that university-controlled entities in NSW attracted almost A$48 million in JobKeeper subsidies last year, while semester 1 international enrolments at Sydney are 33 per cent higher this year than last year ¨C suggesting that many international students who deferred their studies in 2020 have resigned themselves to studying remotely.

Semester 1 international enrolments at cross-town rival UNSW Sydney are up 39 per cent. The two institutions ¡°established fast network access capabilities¡± to help students in China study online, the report says.

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Philanthropic support last year rose 16 per cent at UNSW and 46 per cent at Sydney, it says.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com