‘Nothing off the table’ says Edinburgh head on school closures

The University of Edinburgh has warned staff that it may need to close schools and degree programmes, stating that “nothing is off the table” as it seeks to make financial savings.

In an email sent to all staff on 11 February, principal Peter Mathieson says the shortfall in the institution’s finances could not be closed by the voluntary severance scheme launched last month, which he was extending until the end of February.

“The gap that needs to be closed to secure the university’s financial sustainability is large enough and urgent enough for us to have to confront the likelihood that other measures will be needed in the near future,” explains Mathieson.

“These might include restructuring, possible closures of programmes or even schools, mergers or shared services between schools, centralisation of some services, outsourcing of others. Nothing is off the table.”

The announcement by the Russell Group university comes after it warned in November that it would need to make job cuts in response to its “unsustainable” funding position – a decision that led its University and College Union branch to pass a motion of no confidence in the university’s leader and senior management team.

The union has disputed the need for job cuts at Scotland’s largest university, which has a turnover of £1.4 billion and posted a £104 million surplus in 2022-23 (excluding movements in pension valuations) and a £25 million surplus in 2023-24.

However, the latest financial statements also flag “severe financial challenges” caused by “international student recruitment within an already competitive international student market, increasing staff costs, utility costs, the impact of inflation and…the continued inadequate levels of funding for Scottish domiciled and other UK students”.

“Our outgoings are consistently growing faster than our income,” the statements explain, adding that it would soon take a “series of steps to change our operating model to ensure that we remain financially sustainable”.

Edinburgh is the latest Scottish university to announce significant cost savings, with the University of Dundee stating that job losses are “inevitable” in November 2024, while voluntary severance schemes have opened at Heriot-Watt University and Robert Gordon University.

“This is a deeply worrying time for workers at the university,” said UCU general secretary Jo Grady, who explained that the union had already lodged a failure to agree with senior management over its refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies as it undertakes this current restructuring process.

“This is an employer that wastes millions on capital projects, but is now seeking to cut the very staff who deliver the teaching, research and student support that make the university the successful institution that it is,” she said. “Management now needs to change course and guarantee workers will not be forced out the door.”

In his message to staff, Mathieson says he is keen to be “as open and transparent as possible about the university’s financial position and the steps necessary to address it”.

“I fully understand the anxiety and uncertainty that this message will induce, but my senior colleagues and I feel that it is best to be honest and open about the scale and urgency of the measures likely to be needed,” he continues, stating that “inaction would leave us heading rapidly towards the deficit position in which many other universities already find themselves”.

“We owe it to our predecessors and to our successors to do everything we can to ensure that the university has a distinguished future to go with its distinguished past,” Mathieson says.

In a statement, a University of Edinburgh spokeswoman said: “In line with our commitment to be transparent about the university’s financial position, we have shared with staff that we anticipate having to take further actions to ensure the university remains on a secure financial footing.

“We have also decided to extend the deadline for applications to the voluntary severance scheme by two weeks until 28 February.”

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com