A FURTHER Welsh University has revealed that it faces a financial crisis.
Bangor University has followed Aberystwyth, UWTSD, The University of South Wales, and Cardiff Met in announcing that it is seeking massive staff redundancies and will cut courses.
The University says it has suffered funding cuts totalling £8.5m since 2016 and faces ‘significant financial issues’.
Up to 170 jobs could go as the University seeks voluntary redundancies.
Reacting to the news that 170 jobs are threatened at Bangor University and staff are being asked to take a pay cut, Geoff Edkins, UNISON organiser said: “University staff are alarmed at the apparent state of Bangor University’s finances. They are angry that management of the university has put their jobs at risk and threatened their families’ livelihoods.
“We must protect the quality and breadth of student learning and support at the university and UNISON doesn’t see how the university’s proposals will do that. At best, the financial strategy of Bangor appears unrealistic.
“We will work with the university to seek to plug the gap in finances. One idea the trade unions have put forward is to sell the grace-and-favour property bought for the Vice Chancellor and which is scarcely used. We believe this could net the university one million pounds straight away.
“Staff are due to meet to consider the university’s proposals and we believe they will be thrown out. If implemented, they would force staff who are already low paid, into poverty.
“Faced with that, it is obvious many would choose to leave and the experience and dedication of hard-working employees would be lost forever. UNISON will be seeking a commitment for the lowest paid to be afforded the maximum protection.”
Wales’ higher education sector has come under increasing pressure, largely as a result of spending cuts and overcapacity within the system. In addition, the number of overseas students coming to study in Wales has declined, with a particularly sharp decline in students coming from the EU following the Brexit vote.
However, the problem of University cuts does not only affect the higher education sector. The closure of Lampeter University was judged to have the potential for such an adverse impact on the local economy that it was rolled up in to the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in order to prevent economic fallout. In Bangor, the knock on effect of job losses and a continuing decline in student enrolment could have a severe impact on the wider area’s economy and also upon scientific research across the UK.
