It’s understood the University of Newcastle (UoN) is in an optimal financial position, despite reporting losses and utilising cost-cutting measures.
New analysis from the Australian Institute revealed the organisation has generated surpluses and witnessed its net assets grow significantly over the past decade.
That’s in spite of the UoN claiming it was under “significant financial pressure” and ran at an “underlying deficit” last year.
The organisation also implemented a Business Improvement Strategy, which included plans to save $21.5 million in 2025.
NTEU officials state the university is fulfilling this by cutting more than 140 jobs and a dozen courses.
UoN was found to hold net assets of more than $1.8 billion at the end of 2024, representing an increase of more than $150 million from the previous year, according to its audited accounts.
“To suggest there is something ‘unsustainable’ about the financial performance of an organisation whose net assets have grown by nearly $600 million and whose retained earnings have grown by more than $400 million over the past 10 years is just silly,” Australian Institute co-CEO Dr Richard Denniss said.
“The so-called ‘adjusted operating result’ is calculated by management by removing some forms of revenue described as ‘one-off’.
“But, there is no similar effort to remove one-off items of expenditure.
“If the management of the University of Newcastle really wants its staff, students and the NSW Parliament to ignore the strong financial results in the audited accounts and focus on some unaudited ‘adjustments’, then they need to explain why an organisation that is spending ‘unsustainably’ has seen its retained earnings and net assets grow so significantly.”
Members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and other UoN staff engaged in a half-day strike on Thursday 23 October.
There, Newcastle branch president Dr Terry Summers addressed the crowd, slamming the university’s “cover-ups”.
“They claim that the uni is in an unsustainable financial position,” he stated.
“Now that, my friends, my comrades, is complete and utter bollocks.”
Recently, the UoN enlisted the help of the Fair Work Commission, lodging a Section 240 application to “help resolve outstanding issues through conciliation”, according to chief people and culture officer Martin Sainsbury.
The assistance is said to smooth out the enterprise bargaining process with the union, but Dr Summers labelled it as an “aggressive industrial tactic”.
“This is disappointing but sadly unsurprising, given the last [bargaining] round when UoN management attempted to bypass our staff union by going to a non-union ballot in December 2022, where over 90% of academic staff and 75% of professional staff overwhelmingly voted no to management’s sub-par agreements,” he said in a message to other NTEU members.
As a rebuttal, the NTEU lodged a formal dispute with the Fair Work Commission, in relation to significant changes across several colleges within the university, claiming they are in breach of the enterprise agreement and of Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) requirements.
“NTEU reps believe the widespread change proposals are, in fact, a university-wide workplace change and therefore has been a clear failure to genuinely consult with all affected staff; and provide required information regarding the proposed changes to all affected staff,” they stated.
“Our dispute also alleges a failure to meet WHS requirements under both the agreements and WHS legislation, including failures to properly identify workload implications in the multiple change papers; and properly consult with affected staff.”
Dr Summers told the Newcastle Weekly it was a last-ditch effort to combat the university’s lack of cooperation.
“This is meant to be a facilitation type agreement where our management is saying that we are not prepared to negotiate with good faith,” he said.
“Well, I’ve given up my own time for six months to try and get to a good position where people’s conditions are protected.
“Now, they don’t want that.
“They seem to think that complete discretion over what they do is the only way to go.”
The Newcastle Weekly reached out to the University of Newcastle for comment.
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