More than 100 jobs at risk as Brighton seeks to save £17 million

The University of Brighton is planning to make more than 100 members of staff redundant, blaming the bleak financial climate.

Up to 400 people have been told their jobs might be at risk as the institution seeks to save £17.9 million.

Members of the local branch of the University and College Union (UCU) said they felt cuts could have been avoided with better financial management, highlighting an expensive campus redevelopment that involved, among other costs, £17 million being spent on acquiring the site of a former gym.

But the university argued that the changes would help to “strengthen its position” in the face of the ongoing fee freeze in England and rising costs because of inflation. A spokesperson said the funding for the investment in its campus had come from the sale of other parts of its estate and day-to-day spending was not impacted.

Ryan Burns, a senior lecturer in media studies and secretary of the UCU branch, said the announcement of redundancies had come out of the blue when staff received an email inviting them to a meeting on 4 May.

The university said “approximately 110 colleagues will leave” after the process, including between 80 and 97 academic staff members and the rest from professional services. It said it hoped compulsory redundancies would be a “last resort.”

“Clearly, with any mass redundancy process the worst part is the people who will lose their jobs. But the other aspect is that we will suddenly have far fewer staff with the same amount of students,” Dr Burns said.

“We still want to be able to take pride in the work we do, but removing so many staff from the equation cannot be a good move for any university.”

Dr Burns said that every school had at least one department that was at risk, with professorial positions also likely to be affected.

Union members “would not take this lying down”, he warned. He said the union was planning a ballot on taking industrial action in order “to make senior management realise that this is not at all in the interests of this university and that we will fight”.

Financial accounts for 2021-22 show the university spent £17 million purchasing a site on its campus from Virgin Active as part of a redevelopment project, having closed another of its campuses in neighbouring Eastbourne.

Dr Burns said this showed that if the university was in a difficult financial situation it had been the vice-chancellor – Debra Humphris – and her senior management team that had “steered this ship to a place where they are now claiming we are in such dire financial straits that they feel they have no choice but to make staff redundant”.

The Brighton spokesperson said a long-term plan to consolidate its three campuses would be completed in 2024 “to provide the best possible facilities for our students and staff”..

“The investment in our estate to make this a reality, including a new academic facility on the site of the former Virgin Active health club at Falmer, is being funded by a schedule of disposals including the closure of our Eastbourne campus.

“This approach allows us to finance the proposals without additional borrowing or affecting the money the university has available to manage its day-to-day activities.”

Addressing the need for redundancies directly, they said: “As a provider of high-quality, skills-based education, there are significant opportunities for us to continue to strengthen our position as we look to the future. The proposals for change we have shared with our staff today will help us to do that. 

“Like other universities and businesses across all sectors, the backdrop to these changes has a significant financial dimension. The decade-long freeze in undergraduate tuition fees has reduced their value in real terms by around a third, while the increase in our costs as a result of generationally high levels of inflation has created further pressure. By addressing the immediate financial challenge we face, we can make the most of the opportunities available to us and continue to ensure our future sustainability and success.”

The spokesperson added that the university recognised “this is a very difficult and concerning time for our staff and we will be doing all we can to support those colleagues affected by these proposals”.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com