The wealth gap among universities in Australia’s largest state has widened, with the two biggest and richest institutions now pocketing more than half the entire sector’s income.
Lat year the University of Sydney and UNSW Sydney absorbed 51 per cent of the combined earnings of the 10 public universities in New South Wales (NSW), up from 45 per cent before the pandemic, according to newly published financial accounts. Their combined share of enrolments stands at about 36 per cent.
UNSW finished the year with a A$422 million (£224 million) surplus, mainly because of ballooning international education earnings that rocketed past A$1.7 billion – almost double their value just two years earlier.
Sydney’s surplus fell from A$550 million in 2024 to A$195 million last year, as its expenses surged and its investment income almost halved. It nevertheless achieved 7 per cent growth in its revenue from overseas students, which also exceeded A$1.7 billion. Its chancellor and vice-chancellor had earlier warned staff that it was experiencing a “softening of student demand from China”.
Meanwhile five of the other eight NSW institutions ended the year in deficit, roughly repeating the pattern of a year earlier. Western Sydney University and the University of Technology Sydney, both of which have flagged major staff cuts, recorded the biggest shortfalls, of A$133 million and A$54 million respectively.
