New cuts ‘hit world-leading research’ as UK recruitment woes bite

UK universities have embarked on a fresh round of cost-cutting, targeting departments and projects previously seen as off limits, as the impact of the decline in international student numbers becomes clearer.

The universities of Sheffield and York – both Russell Group institutions – were among the latest to announce the need to make more savings, with the University and College Union (UCU) branch at the latter fearing some of the researchers “key to the university’s future” were among those impacted.

Efforts to save a further £2.4 million after more than 270 staff left York as part of a voluntary severance scheme may involve compulsory redundancies, which UCU has said were unnecessary due to better-than-expected student recruitment.

Other universities also reported that international student numbers have held up despite fears of a major crash.

But elsewhere, year-on-year declines in recruitment were forcing universities’ hands. Sheffield said that although it had grown its domestic student numbers, it had 2,200 fewer international students this year, a 7 per cent reduction, which had contributed to a £50 million shortfall in its accounts.

“We have spoken to staff at the university about some of the measures that we are taking to manage this reduction, which include reviewing infrastructure projects and carefully managing staff vacancies,” a spokesperson said.

The University of East Anglia blamed a reduction in international postgraduates for having to make £11 million worth of savings, with compulsory redundancies not being ruled out, just a year after 100 jobs were cut.

Vice-chancellor David Maguire said in a message to staff that “any reductions will be made in a targeted way, driven by data, to protect as much of our community as possible” and that “we have already worked to make savings in areas where no significant impact will be felt on our university”.

While the scale of the cuts made in 2023-24 were substantial, with at least one in three campuses affected, leaders fear the next round will be harder still, with institutions forced to lose prized assets – provoking ever greater staff and student discontent.

Campus resources on research management

At the University of Hull, where a flagship solar farm plan has been shelved and 127 jobs put at risk, UCU members have been balloted for strike action.

York UCU was also considering strike action “if management does not start engaging in good faith and in a meaningful way”, said co-president Steven Spencer.

He said that the university could be “less aggressive” in its plans to return to surplus and that allowances had not been made for the increased income from this year’s recruitment round.

Among the staff at risk of redundancy were those in health sciences and linguistics, which Dr Spencer said were world-leading groups whose loss will have “large-scale societal implications”.

“The fear is that the university is downgrading itself and the workloads for those left will be immense. There is anger here that I haven’t seen before.”

A York spokesperson said it had “moved quickly” to address difficulties “precisely so we can protect the future of our research and teaching strengths at York”.

The vast majority of savings had been made through voluntary means and the planned redundancy scheme had already been reduced from 30 to 20 full-time equivalent posts and may still be lowered further, they added.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com