Deakin University says it expects to lose up to $300 million by the end of 2021, making redundancies inevitable.

Deakin vice-chancellor Iain Martin has slammed the Federal Government's coronavirus relief package for the higher education sector. He says it will make “very little difference for Deakin” as the university has already met the cap on domestic students.

He also criticised the Federal Government for not extending support to international students, many of whom have lost casual jobs and do not qualify for government support.

“I am profoundly disappointed that the Commonwealth Government has decided to cast international students adrift at this time,” he wrote.

“Over the past 20 years, these students have contributed hugely to the social, economic and cultural wellbeing of Victoria and Australia.”

Professor Martin said with travel restrictions looking likely to remain this year and possibly next, a significant drop in international students appears inevitable.

“We made the difficult but necessary decision just before Easter to put in place the most substantial support package in the country for international students, along with increased assistance for domestic students,” he said.

“We believe it was our moral duty to do so.”

He announced future redundancies; “Given that employment costs are more than half of our expenditure”.

“We anticipate that our income this year will be between $80-$110 million less than 2019, and by the end of 2021 this reduction will grow to $250-$300 million — a fall of 18-22 per cent,” he said.

There are no details yet on the size and scope of the looming redundancies.