Arabic version: الإقليم الشمالي يخطط لمؤشرات أداء مرتبطة بتمويل جامعة تشارلز داروين
According to ABC News, the Northern Territory government plans to require Charles Darwin University to meet new key performance indicators to maintain public funding. Education Minister Jo Hersey said the measures would replace untied funding with outcome-based requirements, following a series of problems at the university.
The government’s 2026-27 budget allocation to CDU is $61.4 million. Hersey said the new agreement was intended to provide accountability for Territorians’ money invested in training providers and to maximise outcomes for students. If CDU does not meet the KPIs, she said she would consider diverting resources to other training providers.
Hersey cited CDU’s TAFE accreditation scandal and a further bungle this year that left about 100 students without electro-technology training. CDU has also faced $4 million in staff underpayments and scrapped plans for a London campus in February after spending nearly $2 million on the initiative without enrolled students in the United Kingdom. Vice-chancellor Scott Bowman stepped down in February.
Work has begun on legislative amendments, with the government aiming to introduce them to the NT Parliament in early 2027. The changes will also cover the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, which has faced scrutiny over financial anomalies and governance flaws.
