Portsmouth to cut jobs and merge faculties in ‘academic reset’

The University of Portsmouth has become the latest UK institution to announce redundancies as part of what it is calling an “academic reset” that could also see faculties merged.

Up to 398 academic staff were said to be at risk of redundancy, according to the University and College Union (UCU), with the university reportedly seeking to eventually shed 47 full-time equivalent posts.

Union members are being consulted on whether to call strike action in response to the plans and claimed the university was not in financial trouble because it was spending £250 million on campus redevelopment in the next decade.

Graham Galbraith, Portsmouth’s vice-chancellor, said the university sector was experiencing “significant challenges”, with Portsmouth affected by the “national issues of declining income in real terms as a result of the freeze on student fees, challenges in student recruitment, particularly in relation to international markets, and increasing costs as a result of inflation”. 

“The university is responding to this with a series of measures to improve and innovate in the provision of our education and in the running of our operations. This will enable us to continue to provide our students with a gold-rated education and continue to generate globally important research and innovation, while ensuring our long-term sustainability,” Professor Galbraith said. 

Job losses will be concentrated in the faculties of Creative and Cultural Industries, Business and Law, and Science and Health, with the faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences and Creative and Cultural Industries set to merge, according to the Portsmouth News.

The institution is one of 36 universities that have recently announced plans to make redundancies, according to a list collated by the UCU group at Queen Mary University of London, another of the institutions affected. 

UCU said the plans at Portsmouth would result in fewer academic staff per student on courses and would “narrow course and module options, endanger the professional accreditation of certain degrees and reduce lecturers’ capacity for teaching and support”.

“UCU stands with staff at the University of Portsmouth, who are at risk of redundancy due to a failure of leadership. It cannot be right that the university is putting staff at risk of redundancy, while spending more on management and new buildings,” said Jo Grady, the union’s general secretary.

“UCU believes that University of Portsmouth’s biggest asset is its staff, and if the university seeks to push through eye-watering cuts it will only destabilise the university and face the disruption of potential industrial action.”

Professor Galbraith said he recognised redundancies were “extremely difficult for all those involved and we are working hard to limit the number as much as possible through natural attrition and voluntary redundancy”.

“The university will also merge and realign a number of areas to reduce the duplication of administration. There are no plans to close courses but to resize resources to match demand and create room for growth,” he added. 

“We remain an ambitious university and we are continuing to invest in our current and future students. This includes expanding our degree apprenticeships, developing our medical school and modernising our campus to create world-class learning, teaching and research facilities that enhance connections between the university and the city. Addressing our current situation by putting us on a sound financial footing while planning for the future is essential and is the responsible thing to do if we are to remain competitive over the long term within this challenging and volatile environment.”

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com