Sound financials a springboard for NeW Futures

Tuesday, 7 June 2016

The University of Newcastle 2015 Annual Report was released to the NSW Parliament on 2 June 2016. It is a comprehensive record of our many achievements over the year, and a snapshot of the significant milestone that was our 50th anniversary year.

Nat McGregor, Chief Operating Officer

Complementing our many achievements in education and research, was a sound financial performance which, in line with management and council expectations, reflects some strong investment returns and the organisation-wide commitment to achieving operating efficiencies.

The underlying operating result for 2015 was a $31.9m surplus (compared to $33.5m in 2014).
A statutory profit of $66.5million includes restricted income of $23.7m which is tied to pre-existing research and capital commitments and non-recurring income of $10.9m.

A number of one-off items supported the strong result – including a NSW Government grant for NeW Space ($12.5m); a donation from Newcastle Innovation ($3.6m); a dividend from UON Singapore ($3.0m) and the repayment to the University by the government of the 2014 government efficiency dividend ($4.3m).

Delivering the anticipated result for the first year of our long term financial plan positions us well to embark on our NeW Futures Strategic Plan. Amongst other priorities, it allows us to progress plans to update, refurbish and maintain our physical and IT environments.

We are all conscious that the environment in which we are operating remains uncertain and challenging. Student numbers both at UON and across the sector in NSW remain flat, with competition increasing from both traditional and new sources and we must continue to address the trend which shows a greater percentage increase in costs than the underlying increase in our operating revenues.

We must continue to work together to find ways to operate with agility and efficiency, while always looking for ways to increase our revenue and improve our services to our students.

Nat


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