University of Adelaide Publishes 2023 Annual Report

The University of Adelaide’s 2023 Annual Report has been tabled in South Australian Parliament today.

Over the past year the University has worked for the benefit of its communities, the State, current and future students, and generations to come, reaching milestones including the passage of legislation to establish a new Adelaide University and the Council endorsing a sustainability strategy.

Legislation prevents South Australia’s universities from releasing their full annual reports until they are tabled in Parliament.

2023 financial results

The University of Adelaide continued to demonstrate sound financial management during 2023 and has reported a positive financial result.

In 2023, the University reported a surplus of $39.5 million, compared with a surplus of $12.5 million in 2022, and included several one-off funding items:

$15 million of “restricted use” donations and bequests which have been added to the University Endowment Fund;
$13 million of unrealised gains on the University’s tied Endowment Fund; and
$18 million in integration costs which were incurred to establish Adelaide University.
The University reports a 2023 underlying surplus of $5.3 million, compared to $13.5 million in 2022.

The underlying surplus represents revenues received by the University that are not required to be directed to specific purposes, including student revenue, research training program and research support program funding and royalty income.

Key statistics

There were 22,840 students (Equivalent Full-Time Student Load or EFTSL) enrolled in full-time study last year, including 186 (EFTSL) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and 7,129 international students (EFTSL) from 115 countries and regions.

The University’s first Giving Day was held on 31 October with more than 500 individual donors raising more than $440,000 to support students, researchers and the wider community; more than $30 million was received in philanthropic donations across the course of the year.

Eight researchers were awarded more than $7.5 million in the Australian Research Council Future Fellowships, with the highest application success rate in the Group of Eight.

University research attracted external income in excess of $260 million, including $121 million in Australian government competitive research grants.