A total of 80% of university COOs and CFOs responding to a new survey are considering saving money this year by cutting programs, 45% aim to get more productivity out of academic staff and 25% plan to outsource operations and/or cut staff.
The survey by Korda Mentha attracted responses from 21 Chief Operating Officers (COOs) and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), and is one part of their state of HE report, which affirms our report earlier this week that Government policies to curb international student visa approvals had delivered divergent impacts across the sector.
While it is important to exert caution over a survey of just 21 bean counters across the country, the perspectives provided represent responses for half of the sector and are interesting for what they don’t say, as much as what they do.
For example, the top areas of focus for COOs and CFOs were upgrading IT systems to cope with technological change, economic and political uncertainty, and increasing regulatory compliance. What wasn’t on the list? The number one cause for the clamp on their revenue – a loss of social licence (being seen as relevant by Australian voters). Also absent was development of entirely new business models at a time when their primary tool for revenue growth, international student enrolments, has been swept off their desk into the hands of the Government and soon, ATEC.
The biggest challenges in implementing tech change? Competing priorities and legacy systems were cited by 90% and 80% respectively. Unclear ownership or governance of transformation programs was only seen as an issue by 20%, in contrast. Mistakes in allowing the web dudes to throttle the AI response rollout didn’t appear to rate a mention.
None said that they used AI for organisational strategy, but 20% thought they would use it in future. Interestingly, 30% said AI was currently used for research projects while 0% said it should be used for research projects in future. The DVC R’s bid for buying time on an AI supercomputer in 2026 suddenly looks harder to get across the line.
The top paths to revenue growth in 2025 were squeezing more revenue from renting out bits of campus, TNE expansion offshore and new marketing approaches to build market share. Strangely, despite the millions on offer, retention didn’t even rate a mention on the revenue diversification list.
The leading approaches to cost cutting were cutting programs, investment in technology to streamline operations, selling off real estate or other assets and improving academic productivity. This is really interesting – 35% said they would look at reducing the scope or scale of research programs and 80% have the knife out to prune degrees on offer, while 25% were open to outsourcing areas of operations.
In news which will dismay Accord enthusiasts, and lay out a clear challenge for ATEC’s sector harmonisation goals, 70% aimed to boost collaboration through Gen AI and just 20% were seeking new opportunities with TAFE providers.