Charles Sturt University has announced it expects to return to a balanced budget by the end of the 2021 financial year as a result of its cost-cutting measures.
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Independent auditors from KPMG have completed a review of the institution's finances and concluded that "structural financial issues" were to blame for an expected pre-pandemic $16.2 million deficit.
However, the coronavirus-induced economic crisis only exacerbated the university's financial predicament, increasing the forecast deficit to $49.5 million.
Meanwhile, last week the university made a submission to the state parliamentary inquiry on the future of tertiary education calling for a relaxation of the Charles Sturt University Act and by-law.
The revision would allow the university to dissolve "any obligation to maintain a certain number of campuses, or to have them in particular locations".
"[These] requirements ... can limit universities' capacity to respond to financial changes, demographic changes, shifts in demand or other circumstances," acting vice-chancellor Professor John Germov said in the submission.
To better manage its financial situation, in June the university announced it would open its books to KPMG to review the 'sustainable futures' cost-cutting measures.
With the completion of the review, Professor Germov said a key finding of the review was that the sustainable futures program would "reduce [the] deficit to approximately $22 million in the 2020 financial year."
"[T]he full implementation of the program will put the university on the path to a balanced budget by the end of the 2021 financial year," Professor Germov said via a statement.
"[W]e hope our students, staff and community stakeholders are reassured that our actions are returning the university to financial sustainability."
But Wagga-campus representative of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) Dr Helen Masterman-Smith told The Daily Advertiser no further light has been shed on the university's future.
"We haven't seen the review yet so it is too early to know what will happen," Dr Masterman-Smith said.
Wagga's state Independent member Dr Joe McGirr also said that he was yet to see the finalised KPMG report.
"The university clearly needs to be on a sound financial footing and that needs to be done in an open and transparent way," he said.
The Daily Advertiser put questions to the university to determine whether the review would be published.
The steps will be discussed by the University Council during the next meeting.