University of Sydney Reports Minimal $2.2 Million Loss in 2020 Due to Int’lStudents Continuing Studies at Australian Universities

The University of Sydney (USYD) has marked a $2.2 million loss in 2020 but has collected more than $250 million in revenue from international students after reducing costs and enrolling more of the latter than expected.

In a note directed to staff on Thursday, USYD said they had predicted a $470 million loss in the first months when the pandemic struck, and another $184 million was expected to be lost in September, Erudera.com reports.

The university collected $202 million more in 2021 than it had planned, which increase in income was affected mainly by the 18 percent increase in international education during the first semester of the academic year.

Vice-chancellor of USYD, Stephen Garton, said that the $2.2 million loss for 2020 was “a remarkable outcome in a challenging and highly unpredictable year.”

“While we had to implement some necessary austerity measures in 2020 to save costs and mitigate against the downturn in enrolments, the final result is far better than the significant loss we had predicted at this time last year,” Professor Garton wrote.

Due to $257 million revenue in international students stronger than expected enrolments, the university has also reported an operating redundancy of $106.6 million, which, according to professor Garton, also included earnings from philanthropic donations, investments, and research grants.

When speaking of redundancies, USYD did not comment on the matter, but recently, Auckland University reported a $44 million loss in redundancies, with 300 being fired from their jobs.

At other universities such as Victoria University of Wellington, nearly 100 people expressed interest in voluntary redundancy, followed by 74 staff members at Marrey University who lost their job, 72 at Lincoln University, and 71 at AUT.

Thanks to Chinese students who remained enrolled and studied remotely even during the pandemic, universities in Australia were able to record better than expected results for 2020, despite the unfavorable predictions of how the pandemic would affect Australia’s education institutions.

In February, the University of Melbourne reported $8 million more in revenue for 2020, Monash University revealed a $259 million surplus and the University of Queensland (UQ) said there was a $109 million glut. This semester, UQ experienced an increase of Chinese students by 40 percent on 2020 levels and registered 18,000 international students.

On the other hand, many universities in Australia have reported over 80 percent drop in Indian international student enrolments due to the pandemic, which has affected the institutions greatly after India is the second resource of international students after China. Previously, Indian students protested in New Delhi against the decision of Australia to remain its borders closed, making it difficult for students to continue studies in the field of their choice.