South Bank posts axed

A SLUMP in student numbers has been blamed by South Bank University managers for their decision to axe posts in the faculty of the built environment.

Vice-chancellor Gerald Bernbaum said that he was seeking more than 20 redundancies in the faculty, which has lost nearly 800 students, a quarter of the total, over the past four years. Professor Bernbaum said that student applications for next year showed no real improvement and that resources would be better employed elsewhere in the university.

Professor Bernbaum said that the faculty enjoyed a student staff ratio of 17 to one while the average for the rest of the university, excluding built environment, was around 24 to one.

Jenny Golden, regional official of lecturer's union Natfhe, said: "Staff are bemused and angered by this set of proposals especially since there appears to be no suggestion that there is a financial crisis at the university."