Cutbacks could stop me getting my degree, says disabled student
A DISABLED student claims she may be unable to finish her degree if support she receives is cut under savings being made by her university.
The University of South Wales psychology student says she relies on her specialist mentors. But she has raised concerns after seeing consultation papers showing management is considering cutting their numbers by more than half.
The university, which is currently consulting with staff on making 139 redundancies across all four of its faculties and support departments in Cardiff, Treforest and Newport campuses, said it could not comment in detail during the consultation and that nothing had yet been decided.
Jobs are at risk as the university faces a drop in student applications.
The student, who does not want to be identified, said cuts are being considered to front line staff who support students with physical and mental health difficulties and developmental disorders.
The university confirmed it would be cutting the hours libraries are open, leaving it without a 24/7 service throughout the year, but said it did not recognise her claim that students would have less time with study skills tutors working with students with disabilities from impaired mobility to dyslexia.
The student said she had seen papers showing 30% of library assistants may be affected by job cuts while the number of specialist mentors for disabled students could be cut from 13 to 3.5 mentors and study skills tutors from 33 to 12.
“I won’t be able to finish this degree without the support I receive. They (University) are taking away our future, not to mention the future of those to come. I just don’t get it, they know better than anyone we have the ability, why discriminate against us?” she said.
A University of South Wales spokesman said: “We don’t recognise the picture that these allegations attempt to paint. We’ve been very open about the fact that we are looking at staffing structures because of the falling number of UK and international students in the UK. We are consulting with staff and students to explore better ways to work both now and for the future.
“It is responsible to consider different developments in our sector. Any other interpretation of why we’re doing this is simply wrong.
“Our current proposals are to keep or improve our services to students across all areas including libraries, study skills, learning environments, disability support, support for health and wellbeing etc. We are investing in a new inquiry management system to enhance the student experience and support online service delivery.
“We’re proposing to continue our work in modernising the model of mental health support we offer so that students get the most appropriate help to meet their needs. We are totally committed to providing support to students with a disability.”