Redundancies at your university?

[Oh2beatsea]

Are any of you working at one of the many universities that are struggling financially?
Our university announced the financial pressure it's under recently and they are now talking about redundancies. I know a few in the sector are in a similar position and wondered what stage you might be at and how has the process been managed? Have they offered voluntary redundancy first or have they gone straight to compulsory redundancies?
Unsettling times.

We had voluntary severance at our place twice in the last 10 years. Each time the package was 18 months salary. It must save them money in the longer term to have that sort of incentive! The only problem is that if you've got professional membership of nursing or something that is needed to teach on certain courses, you aren't eligible.

I've just taken severance and got 35 week's pay, which when you factor in the tax-free bit, equated to nearly a year's salary. I did, as @BlamBlamBlam said, bite their hand off for it! Now I've left I feel so completely liberated, it's amazing. The amount of brain space my endless 'to do' list was taking up was unreal and now it's just, poof, gone. Like magic - all those research projects and articles and books I'd been saying for years that I was going to do because I had to keep producing 'outputs'. Gone! And now, instead of my usual state of angst over the summer, torn between the knowledge that this is the only time to get any research and writing done and the need to be with my kids and actually take a break, I'm able to actually enjoy my time with the family (instead of feeling stressed about all the work I'm not getting done when I'm with the family and guilty and sad I'm not with the family when I am working).

I don't know what's next, but I feel like I've escaped a cult...

Oh, congrats, @Flockameanie , that sounds like a brilliant deal and the headspace must be amazing!

Well done @Flockameanie, Enjoy the peace!

Congratulations @Flockameanie

DH is exactly the same, so much happier since he took the VS and left. The payout was not as good as yours but he still thought it was worth it. Staying on would have been even worse than the situation was when he left, since those left on the ground were set to be even more demoralised and overloaded with teaching. DH is able to focus entirely on things he actually wants to do now. Which, oddly enough, doesn’t involve dealing with entitled students, kafkaesque bureaucracy and the constant pressure of the REF.

Our VS scheme has been released. It's based on salary and length of service and then there's an extra amount on top of half as much again (1.5 multiplier).

It's a good option for those in areas we think are at risk of being restructured.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/0ced23ed-9513-4ed1-ab3b-01a0be0eee52?shareToken=4ad60a0b4fb29c7767706bd1604885355_

University closures have moved from if to when.

Thats an odd article. There is lots of activity going on that isn't shown in the article.

The interactive map is very interesting. The most interesting thing is it gives annual income, I've only looked at some of the London ones. Goldsmiths has an annual income of £140 million lots of compulsory redundancies. but it is UCL that is the most shocking. An annual income of £1.4 BILLION. how could the rest of us even start to compete with a university that has an income like that, they obviously get to cherry pick all the best grants, best international students etc in a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's shocking to see the disparity. Yet they are on the list of potential redundancies. What on earth is happening there?

They’ve done ok at UCL up to now - but it’s been getting tighter and tighter for the last 15 years. Internal admin is extremely poor - mainly because they pay so little that the admin staff seem to manage 18 months at most and the institutional memory has gone. Endless faffing by the centre has been problematic, with disillusioned academics under ever more pressure to produce for the REF while having more and more research time taken away to handle what seems to be a permanently open assessment period.

They have hit the point that the pips are now squeaking, and hence the risk.

pips are now squeaking

😂😂😂

@Flockameanie My goodness, I can feel the positivity radiating from you. Congratulations. I'm jealous.

We've been told that my university is doing relatively well. But still, there was a VS scheme earlier this year and talks of another in 2025.

Now isn't the right time for me but in the medium-term future, I'd welcome redundancy. I'd like to leave the sector but there isn't enough impetus to do so of my own accord. Being shoved out would actually work quite well for me in a few years time.

I don’t understand why some universities are in trouble and some not. Why have Edinburgh got a hiring freeze but not Glasgow? Why are ucl considering redundancies ffs. Is the common factor the % of overseas students?

I don’t think you can tell from that article. My university isn’t on there and we have a voluntary severance scheme. DD works at a university that isnt listed that has cost reduction measures ongoing

Possibly? I think ucl has almost 50% international students

My uni is still just trimming around the edges rather than big cuts, eg not renewing fixed term posts. We have a lot of international students but we also get loads of big grants and third stream revenue so maybe we're muddling through.

So who do we think are the ones up for merger or collapse?

University of Southampton taking over some of the University of Winchester? Southampton already has Winchester School of Art there and the history/prestige of the city of Winchester could be a draw for the desirable Chinese and overseas students. Good transport links between the cities too including mainline rail network.

i wouldn’t be surprised to see mergers between two smaller / newer places in the same city. I would be amazed if a RG took over a non RG. Eg perhaps Edinburgh Napier and Heriot Watt could merge (as an example only) but Edinburgh would steer well clear

Commiserations- I have a colleague hoping for VR but the rest of us desperately want to stay.

But if you want to see some of the ignorance of how universities work, take a peek at the thread in the HE forum on universities - “Some universities will go bust”

sorry - on my phone and the link won’t paste. But it’s very depressing how ill- informed a bunch of parents can be about their DCs’ education.

Here's the link

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/5128187-some-universities-will-go-bust

Is this going disporportionately effect poorer students? Will Oxbridge and high profile UG weather the storm with their predominantly middle class intake while the newer universities with a significant proportion of working class students fold?

Does this mean more working class students not getting an opportunity to further their academic learning and being forced to go along vocational training lines? (No learning literature for you laddy we have apprenticeships construction sites).

it seems Blair's vision of increased part I park in in he has vanished with the ostensibly working class Bridget Philipson shaking her head at the finances of newer universities having benefited from a Cambridge education, a university where there will be never financial pressure and with a very middle class intake.

100% it will disproportionately effect poorer students, students of colour etc. Arguably the ones for whom university is more transformative.

@mids2019 - There was an article on the BBC news website last month with some interesting information on participation rates in different regions and economic groups.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv22y7zl18po

After being told in meetings that my VS application would be accepted, I’ve now been told my application has been deferred as they need more time to get a full picture of things. Even though many applications were accepted.

emailed HR and got the usual copy and paste and a link to the wellbeing pages. My uni have handled this so badly and seem to make no apology for it.

@MendaciousMabel I think you might be at the same university as me. I'm sorry to hear your application has been deferred, it does seem to be a complete mess.