The City Deals process is an apparently attractive source for university funding – but it is not without significant perils.
Professor Geoff Hanmer, School of Architecture
Universities have had few sources of capital funds since the Abbott government sidelined the Education Investment Fund in 2014. The loss of an estimated A$16 billion of income by 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic has simply added to this problem.
The City Deals process is one option, but for most universities it’s a poisoned chalice. A university will have to make a large financial contribution to the project and bears the risk of any cost overruns. These deals were conceived in the salad days prior to 2020 and now look decidedly wilted.
Read the full story in The Conversation: Why universities may come to regret the costs of City Deals and private sector ‘solutions’