The University of Tasmania has amended its five-year strategy to drastically slash course offerings in light of the outbreak of coronavirus and its ongoing over-reliance of Chinese students.
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Vice Chancellor Rufus Black in an email to staff on Tuesday said it would accelerate its plan as the institution was not making enough progress to be sustainable in the short term.
This means the 514 degrees offered at the university will be cut down to 120.
He said this number of courses still provided choice and allowed the university to better market its offerings and recruit students.
Professor Black said the outbreak of coronavirus created ongoing uncertainty for the university even though the majority of its students in China subject to travel restrictions had commenced their study.
"But as we know the spread of the illness continues to shift," he said.
"We have a long way to go in dealing with this issue and its consequences will last well beyond this year.
"The combination of these forces is proving to be a very strong headwind.
"In the face of it we are not making enough progress to be the right size to be sustainable even in the short term.
"The year sees us start a long way behind our budget and with more financial challenges to come."
