Jobs under threat as uni seeks to make savings

CARDIFF Metropolitan University is looking to shed 100 staff to achieve millions in savings over the next five years, according to pubic services union Unison.

The university, which last month announced a number of senior executives were being made redundant as part of an ongoing restructuring.

It becomes the fifth university in Wales to announce job losses in recent months.

The union claimed the university needs to make £10.5m savings by the 2022/23 academic year.

It said the university is looking to achieve the job losses through voluntary redundancies.

A statement from the university said a focus on “excellence, growth and diversification” has been formulated in a new strategic plan to run for the next five years.

But it admitted it had to “streamline” amid growing financial pressures – with falling student numbers also compounding its challenges as it looks to make savings in the coming academic year.

The statement said: “The University is therefore speaking to all staff to develop and enable this re-structuring on a voluntary basis.”

The university currently has a full-time equivalent workforce of 1,600, as well as 10,000 students in south Wales and a further 9,000 overseas.

Unison branch secretary Phil Sefton said: “When you think about Cardiff Met’s value to the local economy and the fact that a number of Welsh universities have now announced redundancies, the Welsh Government should consider whether intervention is necessary. As places of learning the higher education sector in Wales demands protection.”