Shaping our future

Universities across Australia, including UniSQ, are facing financial challenges and must adapt to changing circumstances. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, student numbers have been declining while costs have continued to rise. In addition, recent changes to international student visa processing have made it difficult for students from overseas to obtain visas and study at UniSQ.

To ensure the University remains financially sustainable, we need to adjust our costs to better match our income. We have committed to strategies aimed at increasing and diversifying our revenue streams and decreasing costs.

Over the past 2-3 years, the University has invested in several initiatives to increase student numbers. We have had some early indications of potential growth for 2025, with strong demand for our health programs. 

We will continue to invest in the strategies that have been helping us connect with potential students in our local communities and grow our student enrolments further. These include: 

• Introducing new degrees in high demand disciplines, such as Allied Health
• Providing early offers to year 12 students (conditional on successful completion of Yr 12)
• Launching a new Trimester-based academic calendar to provide students with more flexibility about how they choose to study and how many subjects they can enrol in each year
• Increasing student recruitment
• Intensifying our focus on the student experience
• Improving on-campus amenities
• Providing proactive and personalised support to students
• Implementing a Secondary Schools Partnership program
• Liaising with the Study Hubs in our regions
• Establishing an agreement with TAFE Qld to improve pathways between TAFE and UniSQ; and
• Increasing investment in both domestic and international marketing. 

The efforts that we are making to increase student enrolments and diversify revenue take time. When we introduce a new four-year undergraduate degree, it takes time to establish, and it will not reach its full potential until at least year four of the offer.

We have taken immediate action in 2024 to address our current financial challenges with targeted spending cuts and strategic budget recovery measures. Immediate cost-reduction actions have included reviewing vacant and non-essential positions, scrutinising non-salary costs, negotiating with suppliers to minimise major contract costs, and implementing a pre-retirement scheme, with 27 staff choosing to bring their retirement forward to the end of 2024.

A small number of change proposals are being considered in departments to help improve our 2024 financial position. These will be finalised in early December.
Further focus on addressing expenditure will be required in early 2025.

UniSQ, like all Australian universities, has fallen to a decade-level low number of domestic enrolments despite increased population growth. This decline can be attributed to several factors. Students are opting for alternative education and career pathways such as free vocational education and training programs, apprenticeships, and direct employment. Increasing economic uncertainties and pressures related to the rising cost of living are also playing a role, particularly for mature-age students and the postgraduate market.

While international student numbers rebounded post-COVID, recent interventions by the Federal Government and changes to policy have resulted in a decline in international student enrolments.

We have been reviewing degrees and subjects over the past few years to make our curriculum more efficient. Many non-compulsory and low-enrolment subjects have been discontinued.  Significant work has already gone into refining and renewing our portfolio of degrees, and further work is planned for 2025.

The University will continue to review its workforce levels and other costs to achieve more sustainable levels of financial performance. This work will continue into 2025. The total number of jobs that may be made redundant is not yet confirmed because staff are providing input as part of the consultation about the proposed changes. The final number will be dependent on the review of operations and future strategy.

Consultation is still taking place across the University within relevant business areas. The number of staff who no longer have a position will be dependent on the review of operations and future strategy.

Twenty-seven staff recently chose to bring their retirement forward as part of a financial incentive scheme provided by the University. 

The University is not planning a university-wide voluntary redundancy program. However, expressions of interest in voluntary redundancies may be sought from staff in identical roles within defined workgroups where there is a need to reduce the number of positions in that group.

All areas of the University have been asked to identify where operational costs can be reduced, explore opportunities to streamline processes, re-focus on core activities, improve cross-team collaboration, and reduce duplication.