Aberdeen could cut 111 jobs as it seeks £10 million in savings

More than 100 academic jobs are set to be lost at the University of Aberdeen after a £10 million saving plan was approved.

Announcing the cuts shortly after a university court meeting on 28 May, vice-chancellor Peter Edwards said “decisive action is needed to protect the future of our university” despite recent cost-cutting measures, including a recruitment and promotion pause and a voluntary severance scheme launched last year.

While the university is forecasting a £4 million surplus for the end of the financial year, “much of this is due to one-off savings and income which cannot be relied on to occur again” and “mask the underlying structural deficit”, explains Edwards in an email to staff which was co-authored by senior governor Gary McRae.

“To meet the target set by court to break even by 2028, court agreed a £10 million savings plan to ensure financial stability, eradicate annual uncertainty, and generate surpluses for investment,” the email says.

Based on current modelling some 111 full-time equivalent (FTE) academic posts could be lost under the plan, it continues.

“Compulsory redundancies cannot be ruled out in the future, this remains a last resort,” it adds.

Describing the announcement as “absolutely devastating for the workforce”, Dan Cutts, co-chair of Aberdeen’s University and College Union (UCU) branch said there is a “lot of anger, distress and worry amongst our members who have been working tirelessly to support their students”.

Questioning the need to make further cuts, Cutts said “members are baffled as to why senior management are choosing to make these drastic job cuts when the university's financial situation has improved and they report we are in surplus”.

“Management plans are illogical and will be damaging to the student experience here at Aberdeen University,” he added.

Last year the university announced plans to save £5.5 million which led to 41 people taking voluntary severance or early retirement. In April staff went on strike over the proposed cost-saving measures.

The new proposed cuts are the latest cost-saving measures announced by Scottish universities, with the University of Edinburgh unveiling plans to cut £140 million in February last year, while job losses are also expected at Glasgow Caledonian University, Heriot-Watt University and Strathclyde University. Dundee University has undergone several rounds of restructuring amid an unprecedented financial crisis that has seen it handed £60 million in bail-out funding.

Under the latest plan future staffing budgets at Aberdeen would be informed by student-staff ratios of 20 to 1 for STEM disciplines and 25 to 1 for SHAPE (social sciences, humanities and arts for people and the economy).

Citing the “challenges facing the UK higher education sector” that had left “many Scottish universities in deficit”, the email to staff explains the current financial situation is “simply not sustainable.”

“The challenge we and the rest of our sector face is stark,” it concludes, stating the plans would “allow us to return to a more stable footing to grow and succeed in a way that meets the needs of the communities we serve”.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com