And the beleaguered College of Arts and Social Sciences, which has been forced to absorb a $1.4million budget cut this year, operated on less research income than in 2009.

The report, which was tabled in Parliament on Monday, shows an operating surplus of $25.3million, compared with $56.7million in 2012.

But executive director of planning and administration Chris Grange said that by mid-last year, the university was facing an $8million deficit and the fall in surplus vindicated vice-chancellor Ian Young’s university-wide cost-cutting drive.

The underlying surplus is just $5.6million compared with $14.3million in 2012.

The ANU spent $12.4million in implementing a voluntary early retirement scheme and has cut 250 jobs in order to rein in spending.

But the National Tertiary Education Union said the ANU had had to "endure a lot of pain for very little gain" in terms of the shrinking surplus.

Mr Grange said the financial benefits from the retirement scheme would not be seen until this year.

A bright spot in the annual report showed the university increased its investment income from $7million in 2012 to $24.6million in 2013, based on a better than expected sharemarket performance across a $1billion investment portfolio.

The ANU also managed to increase its median entry Australian Tertiary Admission Rank to a historic high of 95.55, compared with 91.95 in 2008.

Research funding rose slightly, from $222million in 2012 to $229million in 2013.