"We know these measures will create some challenges, but they are aimed at ensuring we can continue to contain the financial impact of this ongoing global health crisis," he said in a statement. Loading The announcement comes as a University of Queensland student living in Brisbane has become the seventh person to test positive for COVID-19 in that state. The international student, a 20-year-old man from China, is in a stable condition in isolation in the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. The pause on capital spending at the University of Sydney will impact equipment and infrastructure. Large buildings already contracted and under way will continue, but those not funded by external grants or philanthropy will be put on hold.

Only jobs funded by external grants or at written offer stage will proceed. Dr Spence said university modelling shows the economic impact of coronavirus would be felt beyond the sector. Under one scenario, in which 8700 students would have to defer one semester, there would be a reduction of about $1.4 billion to the NSW Gross State Product (GSP) with about 10,700 full-time jobs affected. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Under another, in which 15,000 students deferred the whole year, there would be a reduction of $2.2 billion to the GSP, with more than 15,000 full-time jobs affected. Under both scenarios, the reverberations could be felt until 2026. "This modelling makes clear that the benefits international students bring when they choose to study in Sydney goes far beyond the university sector," Dr Spence said.

Vice-chancellors from the state's 10 universities are looking at mitigation strategies including cuts to research, capital works and casual teaching shifts. "It will have an impact on employment of sessional staff - casuals and part-timers. And it will have a long-term effect on research. They will cut research and they will cut capital projects," said NSW Skills and Tertiary Education Minister Geoff Lee. The president of the Sydney University branch of the National Tertiary Education Union, Kurt Iveson, said he was worried about casual staff who have been promised work, but were now "in the firing line for cutbacks. "The freeze on new appointments ... is also a serious concern," he said. "Massive extra demands are already being placed on staff to reorganise teaching to try to make it accessible for students caught up in the travel ban ... It now seems we are being expected to do more with less." Sydney University sociologist Salvatore Babones, who warned of a sudden drop in revenues from Chinese students in a Centre for Independent Studies report last year, said the university should have been better prepared.