University sector ‘staring down the barrel’ of $16 billion loss

The university sector has warned it is facing a $16 billion loss due to border closures. Universities Australia Chief Executive Catriona Jackson told Sky News many students, particularly international students, were also disadvantaged by not being able to resume or begin their studies this year. “That’s why we’re staring down the barrel of a four-year loss at a total of $16 billion.” She said universities needed to be prepared to receive students once borders were reopened but there also needed to be a “serious conversation” about how to deal with increasing demand on the sector. “We have increasing signs of demand from Australian students who want to study instead of standing in the dole queue,” she said. Ms Jackson said the sector was also threatened by a high level of unemployment as an estimated 21,000 university workers faced losing their jobs as many did not qualify for the JobKeeper scheme. “A university job is really like any other job, a university worker like any other worker,” she said. “No university wants to lose valuable staff but there’s just no way of making ends meet without doing that at this stage, so every university around the country is making really tough decisions.” Image: Getty

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