Securing a sustainable future for Australian universities through mergers

Universities Australia reports in "Critical challenges in Australia’s university sector: securing a sustainable future" that almost two-thirds of university revenue is from student (directly & via government subsidies) and this is falling. At the same time universities have fewer casual staff, thus less scope to quickly cut costs. I suggest it is time for universities to consolidate and professionalize. Teaching can no longer be left as something researchers do in their spare time and for which they need no expertise or qualifications. Also universities can adopt efficient blended learning techniques. The alternative is that students will go elsewhere for their education: to commercial for-profit arms of international universities in Australia, or vocational sector, or abroad, either in person or online. When I wanted to learn about education and there was no suitable program in Australia, I chose to study online abroad, which turned out to be slightly cheaper.

Financial Performance of Australian Universities

The LH Martin Institute have released an analysis of the latest financial data from Australian universities: "Financial Performance of Australian Universities in 2014". The Australian National University had the highest per student revenue ($63,922), followed by Melbourne University ($49,770) and UWA ($45,375). The highest revenue per academic were at Charles Darwin ($739,658) and Central Queensland University ($665,157).