Melbourne Uni cuts 179 staff as it bleeds cash for fifth year in a row

The University of Melbourne is planning to axe almost 180 jobs, saying its recent financial results are “disappointing and unsustainable” as it flags further pressure to come from declining numbers of international students.

Staff across eight areas of the university have been informed of the “local change proposals” in recent weeks, with 179 jobs to go as the changes sweep across areas responsible for philanthropy and alumni relations, technology, financial planning and biomedicine.

The cuts, almost all of which affect non-academic staff, come after the university recorded a $124 million operating deficit last year, and it forecasts a further operating deficit this year – the fifth consecutive year in the red.

“[Last year’s result] is equal to a 3.7 per cent operating deficit, which is both disappointing and unsustainable,” a university spokeswoman said.

“The landscape has evolved considerably over the past few years … this includes the changes affecting international students, which have put considerable financial pressure on universities across the country.”

She said the proposed changes were made with careful consideration, with formal consultation with affected staff still under way, and the university remained committed to its core academic mission while supporting its people.

Monash University higher education policy expert Andrew Norton said as of August 2026, international enrolments across Australia were down about 10 per cent on 2025 figures, and lower than in 2024 and 2023.

“As university revenue falls due to lower international student revenue this will inevitably cause job losses. More universities will announce cuts over the coming months,” he said.

Last year, a Victorian Auditor-General’s report found Melbourne and Federation universities were the only ones in the state to report a lower adjusted net result margin than the previous year. The auditor uses an adjusted result to assess underlying operational performance by removing fair value gains or losses from investments.

National Tertiary Education Union branch member Liz Strakosch, a senior lecturer at the university, said the scale of the job losses had only become apparent in recent days as management announced the changes separately in the affected areas.

“We’ve seen quite brutal funding and budget cuts being pushed down to all areas of the university, and now we see that this is actually leading to major redundancies,” Strakosch said.

She questioned why the university was making staff redundant rather than selling assets including property and scaling back campus plans – pointing to the university’s net assets of $8.2 billion, which had increased by $40 million in 2025, and plans to transform the campus under its estate masterplan.

However, the university last year paused work on its $2 billion plans for a Fishermans Bend campus as part of a review of its major capital investments, citing revenue constraints.

“This year, the university has implemented a range of savings measures to reduce discretionary spend and unnecessary travel, and continues to take action to ensure the university adapts to the changing environment,” the university spokeswoman said.

The Melbourne University staff cuts come as the NTEU concludes enterprise bargaining that led to a strike and week-long teaching ban last month.

Last week, a union vote passed the proposed agreement, which includes a 3.5 per cent pay rise a year for four years, an additional two days of annual leave, and an increase in superannuation for casuals that makes it the first university in the Group of Eight to pay casuals 17 per cent in line with other staff. The agreement covers academic and non-academic staff.

Strakosch said union surveys had shown ongoing academic staff were working six to eight more hours every week than they were contracted for, and negotiations had resulted in a clearer set of processes to prevent them being overloaded.

“We are looking forward to using those rights and running collective enforcement campaigns about workload in the next year,” she said.

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Jackson Graham is an education reporter at The Age. He was previously an explainer reporter.Connect via email.