TEQSA has bureaucratically eviscerated previous members of the Australian National University’s governing Council for failings to oversight management and uncritically accepting previous VC Genevieve Bell’s Renew ANU $250m savings program.
But the regulator also criticises past Councils for not recognising and responding to continuing financial failings that commenced in 2018. In doing so, TEQSA inadvertently acknowledges the case for savings that brought down Professor Bell, who was accused of making unnecessary staff cuts when the university’s financial position was sound.
“It should have been evident to a competent governing body that the decisions of the ANU Council to reduce its overall student headcount between 2018 and 2023 would have exposed the ANU to risks to its financial stability,” the regulator states.
“However TEQSA is not satisfied that the ANU sought appropriate independent financial or other advice to inform itself as to whether this decision was in the best interests of the university.”
Professor Bell became VC in January 2024 and inherited an unsustainable financial situation – the university continues to be in deficit this year and projects another loss in 2027.
TEQSA’s judgements are in its statement of reasons for imposing continuing restrictions on ANU’s registration as a university, tabled in the Senate and released Friday.
It is the regulators formal statement of its indictment of the university now public. TEQSA has also decided not to release a much-anticipated report it commissioned into ANU governance from Lynelle Briggs, with the regulator citing its continuing compliance assessment of the university. However, TEQSA’s now-public statement quotes complaints by unnamed Council members about the conduct of meetings. And it covers at length former VC Genevieve Bell’s contract with her previous employer, Intel.
The report is also scathing about Council’s acceptance and oversight of Renew ANU.
“TEQSA finds that the decisions of the governing body in respect of Renew ANU were made in the context of financial savings, without strategic targeting or comprehensive understanding of how that programme could impact the academic direction and integrity of the university.”
And it alludes to the campus campaign against Renew, which brought Professor Bell down. “It is not clear to TEQSA that dissenting views, such as the view of Council members that were reluctant to proceed with Renew ANU, were appropriately considered and engaged with.”