Aussie Unis Gamble with Funds and Lose

The SMH tells of evidence Australian universities are losing millions of dollars oversees (mainly in Asia). This is tax payer money, exported and given away.
Most of it comes from the federal government, the same government that was accused recently of not paying enough for them to raise academics' salaries.

Even worse, about a quarter of the universities don't report how their offshore campuses are doing (my guess: not good), offshore campuses will continue to operate at a loss for the sake of existing students.

Do the universities gain from offshore campuses? No, in fact they probably lose prestige which is an important factor for universities. How are they going to blame this one on the Howard government?