Uni Sydney revenue was $3.9bn last year, effectively unchanged on the previous year but its $194m headline earnings were “considerably down” on $540m in 2024.
And on university managements’ preferred accounting measure (that strips-out philanthropy and variable income) there was an underlying loss of $176m in 2025, $100m worse than in ’24.
“Our core operating expenses – the cost of delivering and supporting our core academic missions of education and research – continue to grow faster than our income,“ staff were told yesterday, ahead of NSW university annual reports being tabled in State Parliament on Friday.
And leadership is not banking on an improvement. “We expect operating expenses to continue increasing, alongside a continued real-term reduction in public funding for research, increased regulation of student growth and increasing market competition, and softer investment returns” VC Mark Scott and Chancellor David Thodey warned.
In particular, they pointed to “softening student demand from China” and the need to “adjust to federal government policy settings.” They already are. In October, Uni Sydney was alone among public universities in not initially being allowed an increase in international enrolments, with Education Minister Jason Clare requiring discussions on “market diversification, south-east Asian engagement and its investment in new housing.”
The 2025 result comes as management begins bargaining with campus unions for a new enterprise agreement. The National Tertiary Education Union is calling for a 20% flat pay rise which, if paid in bi-annual instalments over three years, would be a 21.74% increase. Staff costs are every university’s highest outlay.
On any accounting measure, financial things ain’t what they used to be at Uni Sydney. In 2021 it recorded an unmatched $1.04bn operating result, including asset sales and investment earnings. And even its preferred underlying measure was $450m – it has been falling ever since.