Bangor University to cut 200 jobs amid sector-wide financial struggles

Bangor University’s vice-chancellor, Edmund Burke, informed staff by email about aims to cut 200 jobs to counter the drop in international students, rising operating costs, and government changes to national insurance.

The University of South Wales has also announced 90 job cuts following Cardiff University’s announcement to cull 400 academic staff, 10% of its current employees.

Bangor and Cardiff University aim to minimise losses through a voluntary redundancy scheme but have outlined that compulsory redundancies might still be necessary.

Cardiff’s School of Nursing is expected to close if savings targets cannot be made, with mounting fears that similar departmental closures may face students at Bangor.

We in the Welsh government want to see job losses as a last resort

Vikki Howells, Welsh Government Minister for Further and Higher Education

Responding to the announcement of cuts at Bangor and the University of South Wales, Plaid Cymru spokesman for education, Cefin Campbell, pointed blame at the Welsh Labour Government.

He said: “We cannot overestimate the severity of the situation facing Welsh universities – and yet this Labour Welsh government continues to turn a blind eye, offering no real solutions.”

In response to the ongoing sector-wide crisis, the Welsh Government Minister for Further and Higher Education, Vikki Howells, announced a £19 million funding package for higher education in a bid to save jobs.

Encouraging Welsh universities to utilise their cash reserves to prevent lay-offs, she said: “We in the Welsh government want to see job losses as a last resort.

Prominent players at Welsh Universities appear appreciative – if unimpressed – with the measures

“Not all of them [reserves] are easily accessible, but I do think it’s something each university should be considering, and other universities have done that in the past to minimise job losses.”

While sharing Plaid Cymru’s dissatisfaction, prominent players at Welsh Universities appear appreciative – if unimpressed – with the measures.

A representative from the Lecturer’s Union UCU Cymru expressed gratitude for the effort but felt “the amount offered [would] not be enough to stabilise the sector.” Cardiff University also expressed uncertainty as to the funding’s long-term impact.

The financial woes of the higher education industry extend beyond Wales. Durham University has undertaken similar downsizing measures, with the University of Edinburgh warning of the same as it faces a £140 million financial deficit.