UTAS prepares for fewer students, cuts spending and pauses new hires, after government caps international student numbers
UTAS staff have been told the first step in dealing with the limit on international students is to reduce spending. (Supplied: UTAS)
The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is holding consultation sessions with staff to find ways to reduce "discretionary spending" and "manage vacancies" in response to the federal government announcing a cap on international student numbers.
The federal government released draft legislation last week that proposed limiting the number of international student enrolments education providers could offer.
It would mean if universities wanted to enrol international students above that limit, they would need to find additional student accommodation to free up pressure on the private rental market.
The federal move has shaken up universities, with the Group of Eight — Australia's top eight universities — warning they are "reliant" on International student fees.
In a letter to all staff last Wednesday, UTAS employees were told the first step in dealing with the change was to reduce spending.
"Which principally means managing vacancies and discretionary expenditure carefully. As these are important changes, we are seeking staff feedback through a consultation period to ensure we determine the most effective outcomes," the letter said.
"It will take time for this system to take full effect, which creates a significant budget challenge. We intend to address this challenge as part of our transition.
"The consultation period will run until 5pm Friday 31 May."
No jobs to go, hiring pause now over
UTAS deputy vice-chancellor Craig Barling said "managing vacancies" would not mean staff would be made redundant or that a position would not be refilled.
Craig Barling says staff feedback included questions on "if there were any other assets the university should look at selling". (Supplied: University of Tasmania)
"No, we do not have a hiring freeze, we had a hiring pause so that we could assess the situation we were in, but no, there is no hiring freeze and positions will be refilled," Mr Barling said.
"Seventy per cent of our costs are related to staff and so there is a plan around how we manage staffing resources in a more dynamic way, especially around when we get vacancies and how we re-recruit those roles."
Mr Barling said the feedback from staff from the first consultation session was positive.
"The questions we received were mainly around how this change will impact UTAS and if there were any other assets the university should look at selling," he said.
When asked if there were additional properties that could be sold, Mr Barling said: "No."
Currently UTAS has two properties on the market in Hobart, which are both hotels. Neither have been used for student accommodation in several years.
Mr Barling said the university was only using about 80 per cent of its current student accommodation and had room to house more students in the future.
Fewer international students for 2024
UTAS said since the international student changes were first announced in December 2023, it had meant about 500 fewer students were able to be enrolled in Tasmania for 2024.
Federal education minister, Jason Clare, said in a speech to parliament last week the International Education and Skills Strategic Framework "strengthens our international education sector, shuts out the shonks, and gives our providers long-term certainty".
Jason Clare says the student limits will come into force on 1 January 2025. (News Video)
"We will consult with the sector on the implementation of the powers set out in the bill," Mr Clare said.
"This work will take place over the next few months, with the intention that any limits will have a start date of January 1, 2025."
Each university's cap will be set in consultation with the university and it will take into a count a variety of factors, including current international student numbers and how much student accommodation the facility has available.
Mr Barling said the number of international students coming to study in Tasmania had dropped significant ly in recent years for a number of factors, but mainly the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pre-COVID the university had about 4,800 international students. Mr Barling said that had close to halved to about 2,500 students.
"International student numbers have significantly declined due to recent policy changes in both Australia and China,"he said.
Planning for fewer students, less income
National Tertiary Education Union Tasmania Division secretary Ruth Barton said the impact of the changes was hard to predict.
"It will certainly have an impact, but I think it'll mean different things for regional universities compared to capital cities," Ms Barton said.
"In terms of the money international students bring it, teaching largely pays for itself through the domestic students, but research relies on international students, so that will be interesting."
Mr Barling said the university had good financial reserves, but admitted there was not enough to weather the storm without spending cuts.
"We know in the short term, this is going to have a financial impact and that's what we're talking to our people about how to prepare," he said.
"We're very much focusing on how we can grow revenue and sustain ourselves, but the fact is we're probably going to have fewer students for the next few years until these new policies come in.
"So as the policy is formed and we know what the new student numbers will be, and we see what vacancies we do need to recruit, we'll start to get a better picture of where we land."
LoadingLoading...