Accusations of using university funding problems ‘as a smokescreen’ following University of Edinburgh budget cut plans
The University of Edinburgh has announced plans to cut £140 million from its budget.
This notice comes following a decline of international student recruitment and rising operational costs.
However, cost cutting decisions have raised concerns amongst staff, students, and union representatives who question the necessity of significant cuts.
Cash flow issues have been a rising trend across UK universities
Cash flow issues have been a rising trend across UK universities, with 75% of 113 institutions having generated less cash in 2023-24 than in the previous year.
87% of these universities generated less than they did in 2021-22. As a result many institutions are looking to cut costs.
The University of Edinburgh in fiscal year 2023- 24 reported a £25 million surplus. Staff costs have also decreased as a proportion of total expenditure from 58.8% to 53.7%.
Despite these positive financial figures, the university administration maintains that proactive measures such as staff cuts and service reduction are essential to prevent future deficits and long-term stability.
Student Union representatives have expressed scepticism to these plans.
Financial difficulties may have been “manufactured” to justify job reductions
Sophia Woodman, President of the University & College Union (UCU) Edinburgh branch, suggested that financial difficulties may have been “manufactured” to justify job reductions.
UCU Scotland official, Mary Senior, echoed these concerns and argued that Edinburgh university should explore alternative cost-saving measures rather than force job losses.
In response to criticism, University Principal Peter Mathieson reiterated the necessity of difficult cuts.
He said: “The actions we must take now – which include a reduction of both staff and non-staff operating costs – will ensure that we can maintain our position as a world-leading university and emerge stronger for the future”.
This has been a pattern in the UK higher education sector, with universities grappling with financial pressures. In response, it has led to budget cuts and potential job losses.
The UCU has estimated that if current savings targets are met through staff reductions alone, up to 5,000 jobs could be at risk across various institutions.
Comments (6)
Students have a key role to play here. The student’s union has been proactive in voicing its skepticism about the alleged £140m hole, which hasn’t been broken down by the senior leadership team, and it could go further by asking the University ditectly, or through an FOI, how this was worked out and how many jobs would be cut if it was translated into redundancies.
A lot of foreign/Asian students are being invited with promise of visas and exchange programs being available to them, all the while being overcharged. But then with the courses designed for them, they are given more assignments than local students, with little free time, and no visa extensions, or exchange programs unless they return home first and then reapply.
Asian students are being exploited for money and many of them are aware and helpless to do anything about it once moving here…
I think it’s easy to look at areas not your own and say, ‘well they do X, so they should be cut’ so we all fight each other rather than (in my opinion) the mismanagement that took place in the leadership of the uni. At the moment it doesn’t really matter how we got here just to deal with it but no peep out of them about People & Money and what impact that had on this (overall cost wise and how much was spent on recruiting extra staff to deal with that disgrace and still deal with that to make it at least somewhat workable – and the impact on staff wellbeing it’s still having-, and also in terms of not getting good enough financial reporting and not knowing what can be spent… and then spending too much). I also find the lack of accountability really something. I would never want to be a principal. In my head, the amount of responsibility, just the thought, gives me anxiety, but then you see the people in charge and they literally don’t seem to care about any of it and are not taking accountability (how long did it take for Lee Hamill to finally ‘resign’? That should have happened straight after the Senate report). I’ve worked at the University long enough that I know there’s inefficiencies (sometimes for a reason but some COULD definitely be streamlined) but it’s the sharp, immediate changes, that will hurt the University in the short and long-term and I think has already had a negative impact on its ability to recruit students from the UK and internationally and has definitely had an impact on recruiting academic staff. Interesting that Glasgow is in a similar (if not worse) position and you don’t hear anything there (and apparently staff there have NOT received the doom and gloom emails from their centre). My hope is that they don’t just force centralisation. That usually leads to a lot of unintended issues. I just hope there will be some democratic process that involves staff and students, not to just cut cut cut as dictated by the centre, but to make this process, in the Scottish fashion, really inclusive and use it as an opportunity to make the University a better place to work and study and get real involvement (and ideas) in an open way from everyone. But then again, I’m a barely-holding-on optimist.
When Peter Mathieson mentions there will be a reduction of both staff and non staff, what does he mean by non-staff?
That’s usually overheads and I direct costs (travel, catering, stationery, for CSE lab equipment, lab maintenance, I think electricity etc)
Mark Munro – Sports Director is recruiting athletics coaches from all over the world for Edinburgh University.
Surely his area is one of the ones who should lose his job before academics- he was responsible for the enormous debts of UK Athletics – a group of coaches and officials have been trying to tell the University since his appointment 2 years ago but seems to be falling on deaf ears.
He needs to be stopped – his latest American coach was involved in a drugs scandal in the States. We have tried the press, the BBC and other media but they won’t touch the story