More cuts at St Andrews as tutors face axe

Published on Monday 7 June 2010 22:02

FOUR senior tutors are facing redundancy, in what St Andrews University has described as a "restructuring" of its languages department.

Staff in the faculty say the native speakers, who helped develop current courses, are crucial to language teaching, and they slammed the cost-cutting measure.

Professor Neville Richardson e-mailed language staff to tell them: "The restructuring is part of the requirement to address the serious financial position of the school."

It is understood the university is in talks with lecturers union, the UCU over the job cuts.

Some of those affected have worked at the university for 14 years.

A senior source said: "There was no notice. It came completely out of the blue. It was a shock to all of the department."

A spokesman for St Andrews said: "As part of a review of staffing in the school of modern languages, four members of staff have been advised that their positions may be at risk of redundancy.

"The review is not yet complete and no decisions have been made."

He added that it was university policy to avoid redundancy wherever possible.

The university has already scaled back plans for a multimillion-pound refurbishment of its library, citing the severe financial constraints facing the sector.

St Andrews University was planning to spend 46 million on the project, which would have seen a complete refurbishment of its central library, creating more space for collections and student study areas.

However, Louise Richardson, the university principal, said the plan had been conceived before the global economic downturn.