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00:23Australian universities are in crisis.
00:30Anybody who thinks that we don't have a governance problem with our universities is living under a rock.
00:35As public funding has declined, universities have become increasingly corporatised.
00:41We have all these finance and business experts on university councils now, but our finances seem to be getting worse.
00:49How's that?
00:50Big staff layoffs.
00:51I try not to check my student debt, but every time I do I can't help but think how it's
00:56being used.
00:57We reveal how much money is going to consulting firms and the influence they now wield in our unis.
01:04That is the standard operating procedure is infantilise the client, make them think that they can't do things without you
01:11and make sure that you end up with a permanent desk.
01:15Universities have redacted virtually all information.
01:18As courses have been cut and jobs lost, universities stand accused of lacking transparency and accountability.
01:26We have a right to know how much universities are spending on consultants.
01:33Is there any chance we can get a few words on the way in?
01:36So, I'm on the phone.
01:38While the government continues with a policy, it's slammed in opposition.
01:43It's a stupid policy, it's a policy that's failed and it needs to go.
01:48We investigate the turmoil on Australian university campuses and why there's so much visceral anger about the decisions made by
01:57university leaders.
02:13The University of Technology Sydney is one of Australia's top-ranked universities.
02:19But over the past year, it's been engulfed in turmoil.
02:24It is outrageous.
02:25It is unjustified.
02:27This is not how a public institution should be run.
02:31Parfitt, Parfitt, Parfitt!
02:32Out, out, out!
02:41My name is Andrew Parfitt and I'm Vice-Chancellor and President of UTS.
02:45And I swear that the evidence now about to be given by me shall be the truth, the whole truth
02:49and nothing but the truth.
02:50So help me God.
02:51Last year, the Vice-Chancellor unveiled a plan to slash jobs and courses to save $100 million a year.
02:59So how many job cuts are proposed?
03:00So initially we proposed $400.
03:03$400.
03:03And so I think the NTU was saying that's about 10% of the staff.
03:07It's, yes, around that.
03:08That's pretty drastic, I think.
03:11It must be a pretty significant sort of crisis to feel like you have to get 10% of your
03:18staff.
03:19Yes.
03:19Blaming debt and diminished funding, Andrew Parfitt's initial plan was to cut 167 courses and over 1,100 subjects to
03:29stabilise the university's finances.
03:34Hey guys, have you heard about the cuts happening at UTS?
03:38How are you, Ella?
03:38Good, thanks. How are you?
03:39Good. What are you up to today?
03:40Good. Well, this is our stall from the Stop the Cuts campaign.
03:43Yep.
03:44Ella Haid is a student union rep.
03:46She's studying a diploma in languages which has been discontinued in the cuts.
03:52We're handing out these flyers to let students know that hundreds of staff are going to be laid off at
03:56our university and hundreds of courses are going to be gutted from our subject choices.
03:59This is Andrew Parfitt. This is our Vice Chancellor. He earns $935,000 a year. He's the highest level executive
04:07at UTS.
04:09It's a lot of uncertainty in our education. A lot of people don't really know whether they're going to be
04:13able to finish their degree here.
04:15The university leadership is arguing here it needs to save money to pay the debts. What do you say to
04:22them?
04:22I think that students and staff shouldn't have to pay for the financial troubles that our university executives caused for
04:28themselves.
04:35Last month, UTS announced its revised plan.
04:40$100 million in savings would be trimmed to $85 million.
04:44Over 120 academics would lose their jobs.
04:50143 courses would be axed.
04:55Sarah Wise teaches public health.
04:58Two degrees in her school have been scrapped.
05:02We are going from 15 staff in the School of Public Health to a discipline of seven.
05:08And that is really going to reduce the real critical mass of expertise, teaching and research that's been built over
05:18the last eight to nine years.
05:20Her team trains future health workers in areas like pandemic preparedness and Indigenous health.
05:28Now decisions have been made, we're still not clear on really why.
05:32What is the rationale, I think is really, really disappointing.
05:37And it's something in the School of Public Health, because we are quite driven by our values, we have felt
05:42very deeply.
05:57These flashy buildings are a big part of the story.
06:02Before Professor Parfit's time, UTS launched a billion dollar redevelopment plan.
06:09Now he insists the $300 million bond that financed one of these buildings needs to be paid off next year.
06:18It's judgement about risk, it's judgement around what controls that we have,
06:23and it's judgement around what is actually going to deliver the long-term sustainability of the university.
06:30One UTS staffer said this rush to pay off the bond was like starving your children to pay off your
06:37mortgage earlier.
06:38And professors at the UTS Business School say this debt should be refinanced to avoid job losses and course cuts,
06:46and to avert reputational damage to what is one of the top 100 universities in the world.
06:54Leading UTS academics have branded this a manufactured financial crisis.
07:02Well, my colleagues and myself, we've looked at the accounting numbers, we've looked at what the university has said,
07:08and we don't believe it's a crisis.
07:12Paul Brown is an associate professor at UTS specialising in accounting, governance and innovation.
07:21One of the reasons that we think it's a contrived crisis is the debt we don't believe needs to be
07:26paid off straight away.
07:27In fact, our debt now is less than it was 10 years ago, and our income has increased significantly.
07:32The expenses that have gone up which have caused this financial tension are not necessarily the ones that are being
07:40looked at.
07:43Instead of relying on its own experts, UTS turned to external consultants.
07:48The firm, KPMG, that cost $7 million.
07:54Those $7 or $8 million that were paid to KPMG to advise on the long-term outlook for the university,
08:02that is an extraordinary amount of money.
08:07Brendan Lyon wouldn't let a Big Four consultancy firm anywhere near a university.
08:13He's a former KPMG partner, and says when he was at the firm, they began to target universities.
08:24When I joined KPMG, that was a real focus.
08:27They'd recently recruited a former vice chancellor of an Australian university,
08:32and from what I saw within KPMG, it was a real growth area and a real growth target.
08:41KPMG managed to embed itself inside UTS.
08:47They set out to identify academics and courses that didn't make money.
08:54They had UTS email addresses.
08:57My colleagues have been in meetings where these KPMG staff have been identified
09:01either during or after the meeting, and it wasn't disclosed in the beginning.
09:07KPMG's infiltration of UTS was so effective that by May 2025, the firm had 24 staff with UTS email addresses.
09:18They included three KPMG partners and two directors.
09:26So that is the standard operating procedure is get into a client and look as much like you're part of
09:32the client as you can.
09:34Infantilise the client, make them think that they can't do things without you, and make sure that you end up
09:39with a permanent desk.
09:43Staff Freedom of Information requests for KPMG's blueprint for the UTS cuts came back heavily redacted.
09:51Paul Brown was one of a handful of academics allowed into a room for one day to view the full
09:57document under strict supervision.
10:01We've done loads of reports. We know what a report looks like. And so we went in and we kind
10:05of like saw this document. It's about 200 pages. We start looking through it. It's kind of like a PowerPoint
10:09presentation.
10:12Paul Brown was stunned by some of its proposals.
10:16There's a couple of laugh out loud moments. One of them was where they had an organisational structure of UTS,
10:21how it kind of looks at the moment.
10:23And they kind of overlaid this triangle that looked like a cookie cutter. And they said, if we chop off
10:28the sides, you know, that's going to be a good thing.
10:30And we laughed because it was like a Woolworths type organisational structure, not a university with all its complexities and
10:37the like.
10:42KPMG has refused to give Four Corners an interview, but they've been asked to give evidence here at the New
10:48South Wales State Parliament today at an upper house inquiry into the university sector.
10:55Chris Matthews.
10:56Thank you. So Chris Matthews, National Education Lead for KPMG.
11:01Chris Matthews and his colleague Claire McGuinness gave evidence about the firm's work inside UTS.
11:07One element of our analysis included looking at academic performance, which is a common measure across the sector.
11:17As part of looking at academic performance, we looked at research income. Research income is one of the major revenue
11:25streams of an institution.
11:28KPMG's evaluation of academics as revenue streams angered many at UTS.
11:39KPMG employees were present during a two-day retreat at Manly Beach when the university's full leadership team first heard
11:47about the scale of the cuts.
11:50I've been told by people who were in the room that senior leaders were shocked when the numbers were laid
11:57out.
11:57And that the second in charge at UTS, the provost Vicky Chen, expressed frustration at the process.
12:06We've learned that the provost was not happy with how the data was interpreted in the KPMG report and had
12:14serious concerns over the proposed cuts.
12:18On the Monday after the retreat, Vicky Chen was suddenly called into a meeting up there in the vice-chancellor's
12:26office.
12:26The provost's employment was about to be terminated. Within hours, her email access was cut off.
12:34She didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to her work colleagues.
12:40In an email to staff, Andrew Parfitt said,
12:43With sadness, he was writing to advise that Vicky Chen has decided to pursue her research career.
12:50The truth is, she was forced out by the vice-chancellor just months after she received a performance bonus.
13:01Vicky Chen would not comment. She'd signed a settlement agreement.
13:13For months, Four Corners has been trying to get an interview with Andrew Parfitt.
13:18His office has said they could not find a suitable date.
13:23A few words on the way in? No, I've gone on the phone.
13:26Is there any chance we could get a few words on the way in?
13:29So, I'm on the phone.
13:31We wanted to ask him about the firing of Vicky Chen.
13:35About the use of KPMG consultants and the widespread anger over his cuts and how they've been handled.
13:43I've got an APTI breakfast.
13:45They're very happy.
13:47The man who ignored his own staff's no-confidence motion was now ignoring us.
13:53Is there any chance we can grab a few words?
13:55A little bit later.
13:56His office said he would only answer questions in writing.
14:06UTS did not answer any of our written questions about Vicky Chen's departure or its leadership retreat.
14:13The university said changes underway at UTS have been shaped by and reflect the ideas presented by staff during extensive
14:22consultation.
14:24And that an independent review of its governance would take place this year.
14:32Australian universities are now big business.
14:37In the 1980s, the Hawke government reforms increased university places.
14:42But public funding didn't keep pace, forcing universities to find that money elsewhere.
14:50They looked to international students.
14:53It was an entirely different world in the 1980s.
14:56At that point, 80% of university funding came from the Commonwealth.
15:00Today it's 40%.
15:01So it's actually halved as a percentage.
15:03But the number of students has tripled to 1.6 million.
15:07Changes made in 2020 put even more pressure on universities.
15:12Nearly a billion dollars each and every year has been ripped out of universities since the Morrison era.
15:19It causes real pressure and ultimately we're putting more pressure on our staff at universities to deliver more for less.
15:27Somewhere multicultural where international students are welcome.
15:30As universities pursued other funding streams.
15:33You become more than just you.
15:35They became more corporate.
15:36You become you to the power of us.
15:40Marketing, rankings and industry partnerships began to dominate.
15:47What drives international student demand is often international rankings.
15:50What drives international rankings is research and research outcomes.
15:54So it's no surprise you get this, if you like, this circular motion between rankings, research and international students.
16:03A year-long Senate inquiry heard growing concern about the corporatisation of our universities.
16:12We've got a system where we've seen corporate executives coming in running universities without the experience of running an educational
16:19facility.
16:20Knowing about the money is important, but knowing about the reasons why you're there is essential.
16:26As global leaders in higher education consulting, we can help you reimagine the future and deliver it.
16:33Central to this shift has been the rise of external consultants.
16:37Today, more than ever, they confront an environment of change and disruption.
16:42Firms advising universities on strategy, restructuring and cost cutting.
16:48Shape your future with Deloitte.
16:54Corinne Cortez is a professor of accounting at the University of Wollongong.
17:00We asked her to examine how much Australian universities are spending on consultants and contractors.
17:07For 2024, there was $1.8 billion spent by the Australian universities.
17:13$1.8 billion seems like a staggering figure.
17:19It does.
17:19Were you shocked by that?
17:21I was. I was.
17:23And as I was going through each individual one, I was like, that can't be right.
17:27And so the definition of contractor or consultant is unclear.
17:32So it could be some consultancy work or contracting work for IT, but it could also be the big four
17:39consultancy companies.
17:40Absolutely. And that's part of the problem.
17:42I think there's no clear definition about what a consulting engagement is and how it's to be reported.
17:49Definitely the education minister.
17:52We took Professor Cortez's findings to the education minister.
17:58Well, it is shocking, but what is also shocking is that you can't break it down.
18:02And we should be able to know.
18:04We invest a lot of money in our universities.
18:06They do great things.
18:08But if you're spending some of that money on consultants, then the Australian people do have a right to know
18:13who are the consultants,
18:15what's the work they're doing and what's the justification for it.
18:18And so they're the changes that we need to make.
18:20So that's good for transparency reasons, but it's not necessarily going to stop them spending all of that money.
18:25Are you concerned about the scale of the money they're spending on consultants?
18:29Well, there's a lot of terrific people in universities who I reckon could do that job for the university.
18:33But if universities choose to employ somebody outside of the university to do that work, and sometimes there'll be a
18:40good reason for it.
18:41Governments do that as well.
18:42Other organisations do it too.
18:44They need to be accountable for those decisions.
18:52Brendan Lyon is taking legal action aimed at forcing partners in the big consultancy firms to assume greater liability for
19:01the advice they give to clients.
19:02Including universities.
19:06Australia is the only country on earth that has provided practical legal immunity to the big four over everything they
19:12do.
19:13It means that they have no liability, no accountability.
19:17It produces the results that we've seen of terrible damage to universities, terrible damage to corporations and taxpayers.
19:26The firms that have this protection that operate as consultants are Deloitte, EY, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Quartermentha, BDO.
19:37Effectively, the firms that are consultants but continue to masquerade principally as accounting firms.
19:43And they've expanded the public interest protections for regulated accountants out to all of their unregulated consulting work.
19:51It's a crazy situation.
19:52It's one that sets the country up for failure all over.
19:55The universities are but the latest victim of this ongoing scam.
20:03Consultants are not just advising universities.
20:05They're also embedded in their governing boards, shaping decisions about their future.
20:12Of 15 universities we sampled, 13 had serving or former staff from leading consultancies on their governing councils.
20:23I believe that there's an intended infiltration of our governing boards by consultancy firms.
20:29You know, it's all the mates looking after each other and seeing these consultancy costs balloon right across the university
20:37sector.
20:38You're actually going to have those hard conversations.
20:40One of the first recommendations of the Senate inquiry instigated by Tony Sheldon
20:45was that universities improve the transparency and accountability of their governing bodies.
20:52Clearly universities don't have the transparency that big businesses have.
20:57We've seen universities self-governing themselves, run by corporates, like a corporate, but without corporate responsibility.
21:08At a time when universities have been cutting jobs,
21:12vice chancellors and their executives have come under fire for bloated salaries.
21:18We have 300 senior executives in Australian universities that get paid more than their state premier.
21:27We've got numerous vice chancellors that are getting paid once, twice, three times more than the prime minister.
21:36Australian vice chancellors are among the highest paid in the world.
21:41A four corners analysis of the latest university annual reports from 2024 found that 20 Australian VCs were paid over
21:51a million dollars a year.
21:53All 20 earned more than the vice chancellor of Cambridge.
22:01Are Australian vice chancellors overpaid?
22:05Australian vice chancellors run some of the most complex and large universities in the world.
22:11Are they overpaid?
22:12I think it's really important that there is much more transparency and accountability in the way that those wages are
22:18set.
22:18I don't set wages for vice chancellors. That's the job of the chancellors and the governing bodies.
22:25As universities face financial pressure and consultants play a growing role in decision making, the consequences are being felt on
22:33campuses across the country.
22:40Orientation week is underway at the Australian National University.
22:46Behind the smiles and welcome speeches, the university has been in disarray.
22:52Plans to cut around 650 jobs and save 250 million dollars triggered a backlash across the campus.
23:03Well, ANU has been an absolute circus. We've seen student dislocation and disengagement. We've seen courses collapsed and closed.
23:16We've seen everything you could possibly do wrong happen the wrong way at the university.
23:22In 2023, Chancellor Julie Bishop announced tech executive and academic Genevieve Bell as her new vice chancellor.
23:30And I know there's some of you in the audience going, I don't even know what a vice chancellor is.
23:35I wasn't entirely sure what it meant either when I said yes to the job.
23:39She lasted just 20 months in the role.
23:42More than 800 staff passed a 95% vote of no confidence in both Bell and Bishop.
23:51One of the most contentious things about Professor Bell's appointment had been her remuneration package.
23:58Genevieve Bell, whilst getting paid, you know, $1.5 million was also moonlighting with Intel and getting paid for that.
24:06To have this sort of arrangements existing within a university raises some serious questions about governance and accountability.
24:14Under her leadership, ANU had planned to abolish its prestigious 60-year-old school of music to save money.
24:25Collapsing it into a new school of creative and cultural practice.
24:32It's been heavy. There were so many changes to our program that have been made on the fly.
24:40We have to take courses that, you know, we never thought about, ones that don't interest us, ones that we
24:45don't necessarily think are actually beneficial to our learning.
24:49The music students fought back, threatening legal action.
24:55Under the new interim vice-chancellor, the music school has been saved.
25:00But for these students, the damage has already been done.
25:06We lost a lot of our best students, our best friends.
25:11We lost all of our bass players.
25:13I'm a drummer. I can't really play without a bass player.
25:18We're paying around about 40 to 50 grand for the degree.
25:23Feels like we're wasting our money on something that they're not providing to us.
25:28The students say there are positive signs the university's new leadership will help restore the School of Music's prestige.
25:39There's no doubt that ANU has faced financial stresses in recent years.
25:45But serious questions have been raised about the scale of the proposed cuts.
25:51The whole argument behind ANU's cuts has been undermined by an unlikely source.
25:58The local news is not the same as the current goal of the year.
25:58The people are working on their own annual reports.
26:00ANU claimed they had a deficit of $142.5 million.
26:05But they didn't count key revenue sources.
26:09In their annual report it actually states they had a surplus of $90 million.
26:15And that's led to accusations of cooking the books.
26:19Richard Dennis discovered the discrepancy.
26:23He's an economist and a former ANU academic.
26:26Is the ANU cooking the books?
26:29Yes, ANU are cooking the books.
26:31According to their audited accounts,
26:32they made a large surplus last year and the year before.
26:36They're claiming to be running a deficit.
26:38They're claiming to have a financial crisis.
26:40The audited accounts show that's not the case.
26:42Why would they do it, though? What's in it for them?
26:44Well, with crisis comes opportunity.
26:46They are making the case that they have to sack certain staff.
26:50They have to change certain courses.
26:52They have to. They have to.
26:53They're saying they've got no choice.
26:55They've got no alternative.
26:56But they do.
26:57So could they argue that this is not permanent revenue coming in,
27:00that they're structurally in deficit?
27:03They could argue anything they want,
27:05but they haven't convinced their auditor of their argument.
27:10ANU did not respond to questions about what Richard Dennis asserted.
27:15In a statement, it said it was consulting widely with staff,
27:19students and other stakeholders about the next university strategy
27:22and that financial stability remains a priority.
27:28ANU's leadership is about to come under even more scrutiny.
27:33The Australian National Audit Office has been examining ANU finances
27:38to see whether the cuts were justified.
27:42The ANAO report is yet to be released,
27:46but Four Corners has been briefed on its draft findings.
27:49It says that while ANU revenue was not keeping up with costs,
27:54it faced no immediate financial crisis.
27:58And that undermines the whole rationale behind those deep cuts.
28:04Four Corners understands the report says the ANU council approved the proposed cuts
28:10without clear evidence that they were needed,
28:13urgent, achievable, or likely to have their intended impact.
28:18That the council should have considered alternatives to the plan.
28:22And that while the plan delivered some savings,
28:25it came with big risks and costs.
28:28We also understand the draft report raised serious questions
28:32about the university's longer-term financial health.
28:36The minister's office says he has not seen the draft report.
28:43As the minister for education,
28:45you have unique powers and responsibilities for the ANU.
28:48Are you concerned that ANU announced $250 million worth of cuts
28:53at a time they had a budget surplus of $90 million?
28:57Some very serious allegations have been made about what's happening at the ANU.
29:02And that's why I referred that to the university regulator, TEXA.
29:07That investigation is happening right now.
29:09TEXA, the regulator, has said at the moment they don't have the powers
29:13to really push and push for change when it comes to governance failures with universities.
29:19Do you want to legislate in that area?
29:20Yeah, I do.
29:21You know, TEXA's basically got a sledgehammer and a feather at the moment
29:25and nothing in between.
29:26That's why we're going to change the Act.
29:29It'll be the first major change to TEXA in 15 years.
29:31It's to give them the sort of powers they need to act where universities don't.
29:36The ANU is now facing multiple investigations
29:40into its finances, governance and conduct.
29:44ANU leaders behave with impunity.
29:47One inquiry involves Dr Liz Allen, an ANU demographer
29:51who alleged under parliamentary privilege
29:53that she'd been bullied by Chancellor Julie Bishop
29:56while on the university council.
29:58Since 2024, I've experienced threats, intimidation and bullying
30:04because I sought greater probity of council conduct.
30:07One of the reasons you're most upset is because...
30:10Julie Bishop has emphatically denied the allegations.
30:13Well, I absolutely reject each and every allegation
30:17that was made against me.
30:20Neither Julie Bishop nor Liz Allen would answer questions
30:23about the allegations while they are subject to an inquiry.
30:28Julie Bishop declined an interview.
30:32Liz Allen was prepared to speak about what she considers
30:35to have been a manufactured financial crisis at ANU.
30:39ANU was doing well and then all of a sudden
30:45there was this catastrophic financial crisis
30:48that was put to council by ANU leaders,
30:53by ANU executives that hit the panic button to extreme.
30:59Liz Allen says she has concerns about the data
31:02the university gave to the consultancy firm, Naus,
31:05and how it may have been used to find efficiencies at the university.
31:11The trouble is that that data and the process of the methodology
31:16of the creation of that data is an entire black box.
31:21That methodology is not transparent, it is not public.
31:25So we can't scrutinise the way that the data is transformed.
31:31And I solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm
31:34that the evidence now about to be given by me
31:37shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
31:40Now CEO Tim Orton says they've done over $43 million worth of work
31:45for Australian universities over the past five years,
31:49including around $2 million worth for ANU.
31:53Naus insists it did not design the plan for the ANU cuts,
31:57but says the firm advised on future arrangements
32:01of their academic portfolio under the restructuring plan.
32:07After giving evidence at the New South Wales Upper House Inquiry,
32:11Tim Orton spoke to Four Corners.
32:13Some critics say there's a conflict of interest in your business model,
32:16that you're providing the analysis through the data,
32:19you're diagnosing the problem,
32:20then you're offering your services to cure it.
32:23Is there a conflict of interest in your business model?
32:27Our NAUS Data Insights and NAUS Consulting are two separate businesses.
32:31NAUS Consulting does not have access to NAUS Data Insights information,
32:35doesn't have access to the Uniform data.
32:36But of course we're good consultants,
32:38and as good consultants we will approach universities and say,
32:42we have an expertise we think would be of benefit to you.
32:45And do you ever...
32:46And they find that to be the case in some cases,
32:48and in other cases they don't.
32:49So through Uniform you access the university's data.
32:53How do you know that data's accurate?
32:54Now again, your premise is wrong.
32:57Through Uniform, NAUS Data Insights accesses the data.
33:01Yeah, which is your company, right?
33:02NAUS Consulting, which is doing the...
33:04But they're both your companies, right?
33:06They're both my companies,
33:07they're both owned by NAUS Group International,
33:08but I wanted to emphasise to you,
33:10because many people misunderstand this,
33:12and it's important you do understand it,
33:13and give me time to answer the question,
33:14because you're keen to go.
33:16NAUS Consulting does not access the NAUS Data Insights data,
33:19unless the university says we want NAUS Consulting to have that data.
33:23Tim Orton argues the universities get good value for money from NAUS.
33:28Over those five years that we've earned your $43 million,
33:32universities' revenues were $200 billion.
33:37Everyone would understand that if you put $43 million versus $200 billion,
33:41it's a tiny, tiny amount, but it's incredibly high value.
33:45As I said, university leaders are sophisticated professional managers.
33:48They make really well-informed decisions
33:51about when they want to use consultants, such as NAUS Group,
33:53and when they don't.
34:03This is what's left when a university is stripped back.
34:08Empty offices, lecturers gone.
34:15At the University of Wollongong, jobs have been slashed,
34:20courses cut.
34:22Around 200 staff lost their jobs
34:25after a major review of the university
34:28conducted by consulting firm, Cordamentha.
34:33We're talking about a university
34:36that is central to its community.
34:39For those staff and those students
34:41to be put through what they have been
34:44in the last couple of years
34:46is deeply distressing.
34:51Academics, courses and disciplines
34:54were judged on how much money they made.
34:57Those that didn't measure up were cut.
35:06Unlike at UTS or ANU,
35:08no-one's suggesting that Wollongong
35:10faces a fake financial crisis.
35:13The university's 2024 annual report
35:17shows debts totalling $462 million.
35:22These buildings up here
35:24are the main source
35:25of the University of Wollongong's financial problems.
35:29It's student accommodation
35:31and it's part of a public-private partnership.
35:35When COVID hit,
35:37guaranteed residency rates could not be met.
35:40The university borrowed heavily
35:42to buy out its private partner.
35:46In 2024, in a lavish ceremony,
35:50the University of Wollongong
35:52installed the businessman and banker,
35:54Michael Still, as Chancellor.
35:57He presided over a purge
35:59of the university's leadership.
36:02First of all, we lose a VC.
36:05Then we lose two deputy vice-chancellors.
36:09Then an executive dean goes.
36:11Then a vice-president also goes.
36:14Then a chief operating officer also goes.
36:17And he'd only been in the role for 12 months.
36:19So we made jokes at the time
36:20about installing a revolving door
36:22on that building.
36:26Michael Still appointed
36:27an interim vice-chancellor,
36:30John Dewar,
36:30who had run La Trobe University
36:32for over a decade.
36:35He proved a controversial choice
36:37because he was a partner
36:39at the consultancy firm,
36:41Cordamentha.
36:44When John Dewar's appointment
36:45was announced,
36:46the university community
36:47was told that John Dewar
36:49was on leave
36:49from the consultancy firm,
36:51Cordamentha.
36:52The conflict of interest then
36:54emerges when Cordamentha
36:56is invited, in fact,
36:58by Michael Still
36:59to put in a tender
37:00to manage a whole of enterprise
37:04operational review of UOW.
37:08Cordamentha had been asked
37:10to submit that tender
37:11just two days
37:12after the university
37:13announced the appointment
37:14of John Dewar.
37:16Independence is in our DNA.
37:18It shows in every decision
37:19that we make.
37:20The firm ended up securing
37:21$3.8 million worth of work
37:25from the university.
37:29At a university town hall meeting,
37:31Professor Fiona Proben-Rapsi
37:33Hi, John.
37:34confronted the new interim VC.
37:37John, you're our partner
37:38at a company called Cordamentha,
37:41which is a company
37:42that specialises
37:43in disaster capitalism,
37:45it seems.
37:47Cordamentha has been contracted
37:50to do a number of reviews
37:52at UOW.
37:53So it seems to many of us
37:56looking in
37:57that that constitutes
37:58a conflict of interest.
38:00Are you a consultant?
38:02I'm not working
38:03for Cordamentha at the moment.
38:04I'm working for
38:04the University of Wollongong.
38:05I've taken unpaid leave
38:08from the firm
38:10and my employment contract
38:13is with the university
38:14as interim vice-chancellor.
38:16So I'm not employed
38:18as a consultant.
38:19I'm employed
38:20as the vice-chancellor.
38:21When Mr Dewar came along...
38:23Michael Still told
38:24the NSW Inquiry
38:26that Professor Dewar
38:27was on unpaid leave
38:28from Cordamentha
38:29while employed
38:30as interim VC.
38:32He had a deal
38:33to work a nine-day fortnight.
38:35Which of those is correct?
38:37The chancellor was questioned
38:38about what Professor Dewar did
38:40on his day off.
38:42But he had no working relationship
38:44with Cordamentha.
38:46That was our insistence.
38:48Michael Still later qualified
38:49this comment
38:50in a written submission,
38:51saying Professor Dewar's contract
38:53gave him
38:54the flexibility
38:55to spend his free time
38:57at his own discretion.
38:59Michael Still's response
39:01to that inquiry
39:02failed to mention
39:03exactly what Professor Dewar
39:05was doing
39:06on that one day
39:07off a fortnight.
39:08A letter written by Still
39:10obtained through
39:11Freedom of Information
39:12shows Still and Dewar
39:15had an agreement
39:15that the new vice-chancellor
39:17as part of his
39:18one million dollar a year contract
39:20would work at Cordamentha
39:22on one day a fortnight.
39:25You have confirmed
39:26that your ongoing role
39:28at KM during the term
39:30will be unpaid
39:31and will comprise
39:33one day per fortnight
39:34during which time
39:36you will provide leadership
39:37to a team of consultants
39:39in the higher education practice.
39:43Michael Still and John Dewar
39:45both declined to be interviewed.
39:48The university says
39:49Professor Dewar
39:50was not involved
39:51in any part
39:51of the tender process
39:52assessment
39:53or appointment decision
39:54of Cordamentha
39:55and that he did not
39:56do any paid work
39:57for the group
39:57while he was acting
39:58vice-chancellor.
40:00What do you say to that?
40:01It sidesteps
40:02the whole issue
40:03of the fact that
40:04as vice-chancellor
40:05it's his job
40:06as part of the
40:07executive management
40:08to oversee
40:10that operations review
40:12and to be responsible
40:13for the decision making
40:14in relation to
40:15that operations review.
40:16So it doesn't matter
40:17that he wasn't involved
40:18in the decision
40:19about the tender process.
40:20That's a minor part.
40:22And we'll start
40:23with you Mr Shanks.
40:24The university's
40:25former deputy chancellor
40:26now pro-chancellor
40:27has also been accused
40:29of a conflict of interest
40:31this time
40:32involving KPMG.
40:34We've set very tight rules
40:36to make sure
40:36that I'm never involved
40:37in any selection decisions
40:38or others
40:39or be in a situation
40:40where KPMG
40:41would be reporting to me.
40:42Warwick Shanks
40:43is a partner
40:44with KPMG.
40:46As deputy chancellor
40:48he chaired
40:48a financial committee
40:50of the university.
40:51I could say honestly
40:52until I was invited
40:53to this inquiry
40:55that I have not known
40:56how much work
40:57or the nature
40:58of any work
40:59that KPMG does
41:00with the university.
41:02In a written response
41:03to the inquiry
41:04Warwick Shanks
41:05said that KPMG
41:07had done around
41:08$2.7 million
41:09worth of business
41:10for the university
41:11over the past decade.
41:15After looking
41:15at these financial documents
41:17obtained
41:18through Freedom of Information
41:19we discovered
41:21the figures
41:21disclosed to the inquiry
41:23were wrong.
41:24In fact
41:25KPMG
41:26were paid
41:27more than double
41:28what the university
41:29had claimed.
41:31The university
41:33says that
41:33when all of its
41:34entities are included
41:36that figure
41:37is actually
41:38$6.6 million.
41:41Warwick Shanks
41:42declined
41:43an interview.
41:47When Four Corners
41:48alerted the chair
41:49of the inquiry
41:50Sarah Kane
41:51she said
41:52it reinforced
41:52her concerns
41:53about accountability
41:54across the sector
41:56and that it was
41:57up to the committee
41:58to decide
41:59whether the
41:59parliamentary inquiry
42:01had been misled.
42:03The university
42:04told us
42:05there was no intention
42:06to understate
42:07expenditure.
42:15At Wollongong
42:16just like
42:17at ANU
42:18and UTS
42:19a pattern
42:19is emerging
42:20of consultants
42:22shaping decisions
42:23about the future
42:24of Australia's
42:25universities.
42:27In Corder
42:28Menther's report
42:29that recommended
42:30making tens
42:30of millions
42:31of dollars
42:32worth of cuts
42:33they acknowledged
42:34the workforce
42:35data they used
42:36was unreliable.
42:39They had
42:40poor quality
42:41data when
42:41it came
42:41to the workforce
42:42when it came
42:43to workloads
42:44and when it
42:45came to
42:46the reliance
42:47on casual
42:48staff
42:48and they note
42:49in their own
42:50report
42:50that despite
42:51cleaning efforts
42:53they still
42:54can't really
42:54stand by
42:55the quality
42:56of the data.
42:57So
42:58does this
42:59prevent
42:59Corder Menther
43:00from coming up
43:00with massive
43:01recommendations
43:02for job losses
43:03across the institution?
43:05No.
43:07Academics
43:07at UTS
43:08say it was
43:09a similar story
43:10there
43:11with the data
43:12provided to KPMG.
43:15We know that
43:16that data
43:16was fundamentally
43:17flawed.
43:18How do you know that?
43:19Because we've seen
43:20the report
43:21that was used
43:21and was never
43:22corrected.
43:23The problem
43:24with using
43:25external consultants
43:26is they don't
43:27know what questions
43:28to ask.
43:29They basically
43:29take what's
43:31given to them
43:31and then they use it.
43:33This kind of data
43:34is known as
43:36garbage in
43:36garbage out
43:37and the garbage out
43:39that consultancy
43:40groups are using
43:41is the garbage
43:42that we're presented
43:43with to justify
43:44our job losses
43:46and the restructuring
43:47of our universities.
43:54At Parliament House
43:56leaders of
43:57Australia's
43:57university sector
43:58are gathering
43:59for an annual
44:00dinner.
44:02They know
44:03the Minister
44:04Jason Clare
44:05is pushing
44:05for change.
44:06After commissioning
44:07a report
44:08into governance
44:09he's vowed
44:10to make
44:10universities
44:11more accountable.
44:13This year
44:14for the first
44:14time
44:15the remuneration
44:15tribunal
44:16will get involved
44:17in the setting
44:18of salaries
44:18for vice chancellors.
44:20University boards
44:22will have to become
44:23a lot more open
44:24and a lot more
44:25accountable.
44:27One of the most
44:28controversial policies
44:29the job ready
44:30graduate scheme
44:31remains in place.
44:33Brought in
44:34by the Morrison
44:35government
44:35it ripped close
44:36to a billion dollars
44:38out of universities
44:39each year
44:40and more than
44:40doubled
44:41the cost
44:42of an arts degree.
44:44It's actually
44:45turning students
44:46who have the
44:47best need
44:47for university
44:48for social mobility
44:49away from studying
44:50at uni
44:50these are the
44:51poorer kids
44:51and it's deeply
44:53unfair
44:53the cost of
44:53an arts degree
44:54$52,000
44:55versus $14,000
44:56for a maths degree
44:57it's unfair
44:58and it's failed
44:59and I see it
45:00as the most urgent
45:01reform needed
45:01in the sector.
45:04Given you've
45:05been Education
45:06Minister for nearly
45:07four years now
45:08what's stopping
45:08you from getting
45:09rid of it?
45:10I've said
45:11it's failed
45:11I've also said
45:12it's expensive
45:13to fix
45:14and not easy
45:14to fix
45:15I've also said
45:16that the
45:16Tertiary Education
45:17Commission
45:17that we're
45:18setting up
45:18right now
45:19that's in
45:19the parliament
45:20right now
45:20will have a role
45:22in making sure
45:22that we find out
45:23the best way
45:24to fix this
45:25So you've said
45:26job ready graduates
45:27has failed
45:28but you've failed
45:29to get rid of it
45:29haven't you?
45:30It's a bit like
45:31eating an elephant
45:31you've got to do it
45:32one bite at a time
45:33we're investing
45:34about an extra
45:35$6.5 billion
45:37into the system
45:37right now
45:38to implement
45:39the sort of
45:39reforms to help
45:40more kids
45:41from poor
45:41backgrounds
45:41get to university
45:42in the first place
45:44but the job's
45:45not done yet
45:46and this is one
45:46of the other
45:47things we need
45:47to work on
45:48Hey have you heard
45:49about the staff
45:49cuts happening
45:50at UTS?
45:51We've got a petition
45:51about it if you
45:52wouldn't mind
45:52Students like
45:53Ella Haid
45:54say they can't
45:55wait any longer
45:56for the government
45:57to act
45:58Hey how's it going?
45:59My undergrad in history
46:00is going to cost
46:01at least $50,000
46:02by the time I'm done
46:04I think it's pretty
46:05telling from
46:06Jason Clare
46:07and the Albanese
46:07government
46:08that they will
46:09lambast university
46:10executives for not
46:11running the universities
46:12properly
46:12but at the same time
46:14they're not willing
46:14to spend the money
46:15to increase
46:16tertiary funding
46:19The system for funding
46:20universities is broken
46:21it's a system that
46:22relies heavily upon
46:24universities getting
46:25money from other
46:25sources
46:26it leads in a big
46:27emphasis towards
46:28corporatisation
46:29and I actually think
46:30the real call is
46:31a return to mission
46:31and starting with
46:32those students
46:33if we're not giving
46:34our students the best
46:34education
46:35a great opportunity
46:37to job
46:37then we're failing
46:38at the most basic
46:39point
47:10of the time
47:11as you can see
47:13and there are
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