The government of Australia¡¯s biggest state says it will ¡°carefully consider¡± a?parliamentary committee¡¯s report calling on it to boost the auditor-general¡¯s scrutiny of universities¡¯ dependence on income from international students.

However, the state¡¯s surprisingly concise higher education strategy ¨C released days after the report ¨C contains no reference to fiscal oversight despite highlighting the importance of the sector¡¯s ¡°financial sustainability¡±.

The 140-page , from the New South Wales (NSW) Legislative Council¡¯s education portfolio committee, criticises the ¡°cargo cultism¡± of over-reliance on international revenue and says universities should abandon the ¡°edifice complex¡± bankrolled by foreign students¡¯ fees.

In a foreword, committee chair Mark Latham criticises the state¡¯s richest tertiary institutions for ¡°abandoning prudent financial risk management in pursuit of¡­overbuilt mini-city campus buildings¡±.

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Mr Latham attacks ¡°empire-building¡± at the University of Sydney and UNSW Sydney, where income from Chinese students accounted for almost 30?per cent of their revenue and left their business model ¡°reliant on the goodwill of the Chinese government¡±.

He says that while universities were primarily federally funded, state governments should exploit their ¡°leverage¡± as universities¡¯ owners, legislators and now ¡°bankers¡± ¨C after the NSW government guaranteed up to A$750?million (?418?million) of universities¡¯ commercial loans ¨C to exert more control.

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The report¡¯s 39 recommendations include giving the NSW auditor-general a ¡°broader brief and stronger investigative capacity¡± over university financial and staffing management ¨C ¡°especially regarding reliance on international student income and the salaries paid to vice-chancellors and senior administrators¡±.

Mr Latham says the committee¡¯s inquiry is ¡°timely¡± given delays in finalising a state plan for higher education, which the government had been developing for more than five months. ¡°I?trust this report and its recommendations will assist the government in finalising the much-needed NSW Higher Education Strategy,¡± he says.

But the , which was released six days later and occupies just one page, contains no reference to the auditor-general¡¯s powers or university transparency. It also overlooks other recommendations in the report, such as prioritising support for non-profit ¡°country university centres¡±.

Skills and tertiary education minister Geoff Lee would not be drawn on whether the auditor-general¡¯s reporting powers would be upgraded, but he said the government would ¡°carefully consider the committee¡¯s report and its recommendations¡±.

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The auditor-general¡¯s office reports to the Legislative Assembly, the NSW parliament¡¯s lower house. Boosting its powers would require an act of parliament ¨C something normally initiated by the government of the day.

Mr Latham is a controversial figure in Australian public life. A former federal Labor leader who has since joined the anti-immigration One Nation party, he campaigns against political correctness and identity politics and was an early supporter of Donald Trump¡¯s presidential bid.

Fellow committee member David Shoebridge, of the Greens, said many of the report¡¯s recommendations reflected ¡°the bias of the chair and government members rather than any rational conclusions from the evidence¡±. But he supported recommendations for greater transparency.

¡°There is no doubt that the heavy reliance on overseas students as a primary funding source leaves universities extremely exposed in the current crisis,¡± Mr Shoebridge said in a dissenting report.

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University of Sydney sociologist Salvatore Babones has also campaigned for greater transparency around universities¡¯ financial reliance on international students.

In a 2019 report, Dr Babones said Australian universities should ¡°follow US and UK best practice in transparently reporting detailed student numbers by country, level of study and field of study¡±.

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john.ross@timeshighereducation.com