By Sarah McCrea
Consulting firms have played a significant role in Renew ANU, with many staff condemning consultancy spending in the broader context of the ANU’s financial deficit. They argue that there’s a lack of transparency on how the university operates. This includes the role that consultancies continue to play, creating a feeling of uncertainty among staff and students, as the question is raised of whether the ANU has learnt from the mistakes of what the Saturday Paper called the “ANU crisis”.
Renew ANU is ANU’s major cost-cutting plan, first launched late last year, with significant changes being proposed and/or introduced this year. Changes include job cuts, course cuts, the realignment of Schools and Colleges, and portfolio merging.
What We Know About ANU’s Consultancy Spending
A “correction of evidence” to the Senate, provided by ANU Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell, outlines ANU’s interactions with consultants from October 2024 to 1 March 2025.
During this period, ANU procured six consultancy firms for direct consultation regarding Renew ANU, plus one for “incidental advice”. Most fell under the category of providing “career development workshops” or communications and media advice.
The most costly spend was on Nous Group, which was hired “to understand best practice around service infrastructure and support services to help ANU achieve long term financial sustainability”.
The beginning 2024 contract with the firm hosted a price tag of $837,000. This contract was then extended an additional three weeks – at an additional cost of $30,000 – “to account for an amended scope and an additional milestone.” Another extension was added in January 2025, continuing for an unspecified amount of time and with further costs of $260,000.
The ANU and Nous Group: A Long Term Relationship?
Consulting firms often include in their services a regular review of progress after giving initial suggestions to clients. Observer asked the ANU if their contract with Nous Group included a monitoring period, where feedback on the Renew ANU process was provided.
An ANU spokesperson responded that, as of August, the ANU “has had two contracts with Nous Group specific to Renew ANU. The second contract was executed in April 2025. This contract includes a 6-month extension option”.
Depending on the decided length of the second Nous Group contract, the combined cost of these Renew ANU-related consultancies is potentially over $4 million.
The Consultancy Spending Timeline, Straight From the Mouth of the ANU
The “correction of evidence” lists the consulting firms procured to aid Renew ANU. This was provided to the Senate on 1 May as revised answers to questions asked in the Senate Estimates in February. This information doesn’t cover any procurements after 1 March 2025. Observer discussed with the ANU on whether consulting firms had been procured since this date.
An ANU spokesperson responded.
“Earlier this year, the University provided specific details regarding all Renew ANU consultancy related expenditure to the Senate Standing Committees on Education and Employment.”
The ANU directs interested parties specifically to this resource to access the information, which leads to a Parliament of Australia website, giving access to transcripts from the Senate 2024-25 Additional estimates. A transcript of the Education portfolio in the Senate Estimates, from 27 February, is available and contains statements from ANU Executives on Renew ANU consultancy related expenditure.
It is worth noting that this information was later revised and a “correction of evidence” was provided in April by Vice-Chancellor Bell. This is the accurate information on consultancy expenditure and procurement in that six-month period.
Given the information is not available in the transcripts of the Senate Estimate, it may be difficult to find this document from the link given by the ANU. Observer has provided a guide to accessing the relevant and accurate information at the bottom of this article.
It remains to be seen how many consultants the ANU has employed since March 1. However, given the ANU’s statement on a second contract with Nous Group in April, it is clear that the expenditure and contracting does not end at that date in March.
Students and staff are directed by the ANU towards a recent statement on consultancy. This outlines consultancy spending in 2023, the definition of consultancy, and expenditure on the ‘Big 4’ consulting firms. From the information the ANU has provided thus far, the ‘Big 4’ firms are not involved with Renew ANU.
Vice-Chancellor Bell stated there “is no easy fix to address the challenges faced by ANU, but living outside our means is not a responsible financial position, and we continue to be grateful for the ongoing engagement of the University and broader community to help support us through this period.”
What Does the Community Think?
Despite statements like these from the university, many staff and students believe the consultant-provided rationale behind Renew ANU is not working and will not work. Protests, a vote of no-confidence, and evidence in Senate hearings have made it clear that the community feels Renew ANU is not the optimal path forward for the university.
Observer spoke to the Crawford School’s Honorary Professor John Williams about this issue. During his career, Williams has worked as Commissioner of the New South Wales Natural Resources Commission and as the CSIRO’s Chief of the Division of Land and Water.
Corporate Consultancies & Academic Institutions: Do They Mix?
Williams commented that the ANU is “an academic institution and has a role in society that’s very different to a role of a commercial company, or a private sector company,” but that, currently, it “does not seem to be governed by the priorities of an academic institution.”
He stated the ANU Council ”have brought a corporate frame where they focus on process and mechanism.
“The consulting company comes in [and] they don’t have the culture of an academic research institution at their core…they focus on the ‘bottom line’ and the detail in the governing process. This doesn’t necessarily have the outcome as the primary focus, which is a lively academic institution, which changes the way we understand our knowledge and the way in which we frame our futures as a society.”
He commented on the current direction of the ANU, saying that it leads to “a different culture” and that it has “a different purpose.”
What Could the ANU Be Doing Instead?
Rejecting ANU’s placing “cost structure” as the “bottom line” of governing intentions and outcomes, Williams said “an absolute focus” should be prioritizing “research, the pursuit of knowledge, and equipping people for the future”.
“The Council, the Vice-Chancellor, and the Chancellery…have not drawn on the experience, knowledge, and understanding of an academic institution that rest in senior professorships across the institution.”
A Wrap-Up of Corrections of Evidence, Timelines, and Consultancy Spending
From the correction of evidence, it’s clear there’s been significant Renew ANU related spending on consultants, even just over the six month period of available data (from October 2024 to March 2025).
Staff like Professor Williams are concerned that if the ANU continues to use consultants to advise the Renew ANU process, the framework of analysis and feedback will remain a “corporate” one, not adapted to fit the nature of a university.
Therefore, it is highly important to know the ANU’s interactions with consultants at this crucial time.
What remains unclear is the levels of consultant expenditure and whether there’s been procurement of consultants from March 2025 onwards.
It is acknowledged by the university that there has been contracting of consultants since the “correction of evidence” for the Senate which only included data up until March. The ANU states simultaneously that details on “all Renew ANU consultancy related expenditure” were present in the resource they refer interested parties to.
At such a crucial time for the university, staff and students are searching for certainty and transparency from leadership, and not just regarding consultancy expenditure and contracts.
Staff and students stress that they have not given up on the ANU. They are looking to trust that the ANU is willing to engage and communicate with the community, and hope for open and honest communication.
More to come.
How to access the “correction of evidence” on Renew ANU Consultancy Spending
For ease of access, Observer has provided a link (the link will download a PDF, not access a website) to the correction of evidence related to consultancies and Renew ANU: Revised answer to AEQ 25-006.pdf. This was not provided by the ANU.
However, if interested parties would like to access this information themselves and other similar information from the February Senate Estimates, Observer has provided steps to manually access the document.
- Go to the website on Senate 2024-25 Additional estimates (this is the sole link ANU refers interested parties to).
- At the bottom of the page, there is a table which lists questions on notice. On the right just above this table is a search function.
- Use this to search ‘ANU’. Searching ‘Australian National University’ does not work.
- Under the column heading ‘Broad Topic’ the second result will say ‘Renew ANU consultancies.’
- On this row that is identified as relating to ‘Renew ANU consultancies’, the far left column with the heading “Question Number” has a blue circle with a ‘+’. Click on that.
- Information on these consultancy questions will appear. Below the category ‘Answer Attachment’ will be text saying “Revised answer to AEQ 25-006.pd,” which, if clicked on, will download a PDF of the ANU’s correction of evidence on Renew ANU Consultancies.
Graphics by Fatima Usman
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