00:02A massive merger with ambitious targets.
00:06Three years ago, the business case of bringing together the University of Adelaide and UniSA
00:11said it would attract 6,000 extra international students by 2034.
00:16But that was before the federal government's migration cracked down.
00:19The timing was bad. I think that's the key to it.
00:21In its first year, the new unis enrolled about 16,600 international students,
00:274,000 fewer than the two universities last year.
00:30It's blaming the federal government's hikes to student visa fees
00:34and an increase in visa refusals from key markets.
00:37Now the government wants to bar international students' families from Australia.
00:41That is going to see the potential for continued downturns in our international student numbers
00:47and that has some really significant financial consequences.
00:51Like a potential $90 million shortfall in revenue.
00:55There are no major sources of revenue that can fully replace lost income from international students.
01:00For Adelaide, I think this will almost certainly mean some further restructuring to bring their expenses down.
01:07The Malinouskas government supported the merger with a $464 million package
01:12and says there's more to it than international students.
01:15This merger was pursued for a variety of different reasons
01:19but mainly about making sure that we can seize the economic opportunity for our state ahead of us.
01:25Adelaide University's global ranking has improved
01:27but this is a problem that's not going away.
01:30The university says the loss of international student fees will compound into 2027
01:34and will take three years to get its finances back on track.
01:38There won't be any help from Canberra either,
01:40where there's almost universal support for international student cuts.
