Jobs cuts fears at university
FEARS are growing that Cardiff University may soon announce significant job cuts and departmental closures to offset a funding shortfall.
An academic source told us that cuts were being planned following a cut in the allocation given to the university by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW).
The source said: “The upshot is that the only way forward is big job losses: mostly managers and fewer but significant numbers of academics. On the latter I heard that earth sciences (geology) is slated for closure. The town planners are to be sent to architecture. Not even the heads of department know this yet. My understanding is that all this exists on paper but no consultations have yet taken place with affected staff or heads – only ‘heads of colleges.’
A Cardiff University spokesman said: “Cardiff University is financially stable but expenditure is growing more quickly than income. It is vital that the university is run sustainably for the long term. We have seen a substantial cut to our income from HEFCW of £11m for 2017-18 and £6m for 2018-19 which does present a short-term challenge. We are working with colleagues across the university to seek views and develop proposals for a programme of change over the next two years.
“This will inform where we invest or divest our activities across the university. In addition, we have our ongoing Transforming Services programme in Professional Services to improve the way we deliver support services. We cannot pre-empt the outcome of this collaborative process and no decisions have been taken. We will consult in due course once there are firm proposals. We are committed to taking prudent and responsible action to bring the university back to surplus in 2019/20.”
Cardiff University and College Union (UCU) spokesman Andy Williams said: “If true, the scale of these financial difficulties is very alarming, as is the suggestion of job losses among our members and the closure of departments. UCU represents academics and professional services staff at Cardiff, and the loss of jobs needed to fill this kind of funding hole would be devastating. As well as directly affecting those targeted, staff who remain would have to deal with increases to already very high workloads, and our students would be hit in all sorts of ways. The university talks about prudence and responsibility, but they’ve found millions for capital investment projects and splashing money on expensive new buildings. We’re very disappointed that poor financial management like this might lead to our members losing their jobs. It says a lot about their priorities.
“We haven’t yet been told of any specific plans, but we would welcome immediate talks and consultation to avoid the losses of jobs or departments. We’ve worked with the university to avoid redundancies in the past and we’re ready to do so again.”