First university posts go after Budget fiasco

Published on Wednesday 20 February 2008 21:17

THE first round of university job cuts as a direct result of the Scottish Government's "poor" financial settlement were announced yesterday.

Sir Alan Langlands, the principal and vice-chancellor of Dundee University, said staff would have to go as he seeks to find more than 3 million of savings over the next two years.

Writing to staff, he blamed a combination of the "disappointing" funding settlement for universities in the recent Scottish Budget and the rising costs of meeting a new staff pay deal.

More than 100 staff have already volunteered to resign or reduce their hours in return for a financial pay-off.

There are fears that job losses will spread across the sector.

Last year, Strathclyde University in Glasgow warned it was to shed up to 250 jobs over the next three years to save money. But it later delayed any decision until after the Budget, and is now expected to review the situation either next month or in April.

Other universities may now follow suit with similar reviews and cutbacks.

Sir Alan broke ranks with his fellow principals to criticise the Scottish Government's spending allocation openly, describing it as "poor" and "disappointing".

He warned "uncomfortable financial decisions" had to be made at Dundee to save 1.9 million in 2008-9 and 1.2 million the following year.

"Given the disappointing outcome from the government's comprehensive spending review and the pressures on pay, pensions and utility budgets, the action taken following the university's own sustainability review and delivery of the targets set in our strategic framework will move us towards a break-even position," he said.

He explained that the spending settlement meant a "growth" of minus 0.2 per cent next year and only small rises in following years.

Last year, university leaders said 168 million was needed to keep Scotland's institutions competitive with their English counterparts, which can charge student fees. However, a tight settlement for Scotland from Westminster was blamed as the sector received only 30 million in the SNP's first Budget.

Last month, an additional 10 million was found from the education budget, which went some way to placate fears in the sector that cuts would be necessary. But, privately, principals still fear a lack of cash will mean a halt to any expansion and could lead to job freezes at the very least.

A Dundee University spokesman said it hoped to replace any staff lost as other funding became available. "We expect that, come 2010-11, we will have roughly the same number of staff working at Dundee as we do now," he said.

"The point is that, in many cases, they will be funded through different routes than central funding from government, such as research council funding.

"This explains why we have still been able to recruit people to Dundee over the past year while at the same time having around 100 people either leaving or cutting their hours through the voluntary severance scheme."

Union representatives are not painting a rosy picture. Tony Axon, of the lecturers' union the UCU, said there was uncertainty in the profession and he called on other universities not to jump the gun on staff cuts.

He said: "They shouldn't be so quick to react to this Budget, particularly in the first and second year of this funding, because there is opportunity to get better funding in the future and to ride the storm."

A Scottish Government spokesman said it had been monitoring Dundee's financial situation for some time. He said: "We are aware of a squeeze on Scottish universities generally, and recently announced an additional 10 million for the sector."

But a spokesman for Universities Scotland said the extra 10 million would not be enough to solve the sector's cash crisis.

Meanwhile, Dundee University's senior management team and academic body, the senate, is to consider its financial situation over the coming months.