Some support staff rehired

However, he thought the university could have handled the situation with more ‘‘empathy and sympathy’’ for its support services staff, some of whom had worked for the same departments for 20 or 30 years.

Some people were left feeling as if they had been cut off at the knees, he said.

National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies founder Prof Kevin Clements also hit out at the changes when contacted yesterday, predicting the loss of key support staff would cause chaos in 2019.

Morale was low among junior faculty as well as general staff members.

‘‘There is a huge loss of institutional memory.’’

Mr Willis said the change was the most significant to be made in the university’s history, and it was understandable staff morale was affected.

‘‘We are confident that over time morale will continue to improve as the changes become more embedded within the organisation.’’

Prof Henaghan said in the long term, he hoped it would work out. However, he also felt in the short term not only the 160 fulltime equivalent positions lost but also the knowledge being lost was creating a vacuum.

There seemed to be an assumption people could work anywhere, but support staff — for instance, those working in the medical school — had highly specialised knowledge, and were not just ‘‘like widgets you move around’’.

Academics, who had ‘‘fought very hard’’ to keep the system they had, were under a degree of stress.

The university had tried to communicate the effect of the changes, but he did not think the consequences had been fully understood.