University reveals plans to cut 1 in 10 jobs to make savings

A LEADING university has unveiled proposals to axe almost 200 jobs - 10 per cent of its core staff - in a bid to save £8 million a year.

The cuts are being proposed at Dundee University as part of a strategy to achieve savings of between 10 and 12 per cent across all four of the institution's colleges.

And the university has warned that, while it is hoped the savings can be achieved through natural turnover and voluntary redundancy, compulsory job losses cannot be ruled out.

Under the proposals, to be discussed at a meeting of the University Court on Monday, 193 posts will be shed across the four colleges.

Support services university-wide will lose 75 jobs. The strategic review is also recommending 20 job cuts in the School of Medicine, 18 in the School of Life Sciences, 16 at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design and ten in Engineering, Physics and Mathematics.

Under the proposals, the schools of Architecture, Geography and Town and Regional Planning will be merged to create a new School of the Environment, and the School of Accounting and Finance will be merged with the Economics department to create a new School of Business.

Professor Pete Downes, principal and vice-chancellor of Dundee University, said: "This is about reprioritising our activities to enable us to invest in those areas which will deliver excellence and impact. At the same time we have to establish the future financial sustainability of the university, and we have been working closely with the colleges and services to identify where savings can be made.

"The entire higher education sector is working against a backdrop of potentially considerable reductions in core funding."

He added: "The severity of cuts in core funding may force us, and the sector, to look beyond this review and at more radical proposals."

Mary Senior, Scotland official of lecturers' union the UCU, said: "There is no financial or academic need for the proposed cuts given the university's current position.

"Plans to sack staff would jeopardise the university's proud international reputation and we will oppose any compulsory redundancies.

"We believe the timing of the announcement is a cynical attempt to hide bad news behind the wider funding announcements. The job losses at Dundee are not due to financial constraints."

A spokeswoman for the Dundee University Students' Association (Dusa) expressed her disappointment at the scale of the proposed cuts.She said: "Inevitably, any cuts to staff budgets will act to the detriment of the student experience and Dusa maintains its stance against any austerity measures that affect the quality of education received by students at the university.

"Dusa, however, recognises that the cuts proposed to University Court are likely to be the tip of the iceberg and that further measures by the government could exacerbate the situation."