The Australian National Audit Office slams, really slams, the ANU Council that approved the “Renew ANU” savings plan.
Council backed it, “ without sufficient understanding of the problem, the options available, or implementation risks” and “without clear evidence it was needed, achievable, urgently required, or likely to have the intended impact.”
The report is also comprehensively critical of management for the quality of advice to Council, for overstating the immediate financial risk but also for missing the breadth of the challenge ANU faced, and still faces.
While it is “not at immediate financial risk,” there are “financial sustainability questions for ANU requiring active management,” the Office's report states.
“ ‘Renew ANU’ only addressed one of the pressures and conditions faced by ANU between 2020 and 2024, namely overspending, and did not address lack of enrolment growth and poor financial management.”
On the vital international student income stream, “forecasts were consistently incorrect as they related to international student numbers, indicating insufficient alignment between student recruitment and financial planning.”
And Australian Government Grants for teaching research and student fees, “have not been sufficient to cover expenses since 2018.” Plus “the gap between total expenses and total key income has been approximately 25% since 2020.”
The ANAO estimates that all public-university national government grant income grew just under 80%, 2006-2024, but ANU’s increased by 6.5%.
While the Auditor does not report it, ANU also appears to be propped-up by money that is intended specifically for research, the now $253m per annum National Institutes Grant, gifted by government since ANU’s foundation. In correspondence released under FOI last month, Interim Vice Chancellor Rebekah Brown stated, the NIG “has basically been allocated to consolidated revenue and college budgets so based on historical expenditure … very lumpy and not as transparent as it should be.”
However, the ANAO does state ANU’s share of national competitive research grants fell from 5.5% in 2016 to 3.6% in 2023.
In short, the university’s position was a long time in the making by management. Table 3.2 in the ANAO report states annual financial management improvements on eight measures, 2020-2023. The most common comment is “no action taken.”
“Overall, ANU’s strong but declining financial position points to sustainability challenges,” – ANAO announces. They have been decades in the making and could not be met with by poorly-sold job cuts.
“Council’s decision-making should have considered additional information, options, and perspectives, including alternative ways to address identified financial problems,” the ANAO states.
To which ANU’s Council, perhaps before recent resignations, responded, “Council acknowledges that consultation processes, articulation of non-financial risks, and consideration of community impacts should be strengthened. We commit to these actions which will further support ANU’s financial sustainability and governance, providing a clear platform for the university’s next strategy.”