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.

Is this Edinburgh by any chance? The finance system there collapsed and no suppliers got paid. It’s a complete shitshow

i work in science at another uni and am in charge of my own lab’s bills which is perfect as I pay them all on time!

No, not Edinburgh. After my post last night I thought I'd have a little nosey at the latest set of accounts filed for the university in question (something I do for all our customers from time to time). I think a pp upthread said it would take a forensic accountant to analyse what's going wrong... not in this case! Their finances are gobsmackingly awful.

Judging by the last email I got from them, they are currently using agency staff, so I am wondering whether at least some of the permanent staff have thrown in the towel.

@summersock are you sure your child is telling you the truth about this? We are 100% teaching face to face, RG uni, no exceptions unless permission. Our lectures are all recorded so the students who have missed a session, or have a disability (e.g. slow processing), can catch up. Some lazier students may indeed stay home and watch these instead of walking to campus, but the face to face teaching is happening, and seminars too- it's just not enough students are turning up!

DS has 100% face to face lectures. At the uni where I work the undergrad courses are all face to face - just one term of a part time postgrad is online/webinars and that suits a lot of students who are working/living far away or abroad.

On finance we have the opposite problem -invoices are simply not being sent out with the result that cash flow is at crisis point it's also really embarrassing

Getting this thread away from the laughable idea that lecturers are teaching from home and back to the topic....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-68516324.amp

As an ECR without a permanent job I'm not directly affected redundancies but it terrifies me for the sector. I also think of the newly unemployed people with vast amounts of experience I might be coming up against in job applications...

Universities plan mergers in face of bankruptcy threat and rising costs

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/615139ac-8534-4800-8dc5-a30a82ea96fc?shareToken=0c3df1ac615b6f1031f1829818d1ef28

More news from Queen Marys today! Looks like voluntary redundancies in social science and humanities, especially aimed at English.

Genuine questions: don't core humanities subjects like English get decent student recruitment? They used to have higher tariffs than other subjects also because they were popular. Also, English at Queen Marys do well in REF I see...do they not care about that? And, as someone pointed out in this thread, these subjects are comparatively cheap to teach.

@gyrt REF seemes to make not an ounce of difference (see the cuts at Birkbeck which was, I think, 1st or 2nd in REF for English). English (and Languages) also being disproportionately targeted at Surrey.

I think Universities just don't want to be in the business of the humanities anymore. It's the trickle-down effect of the govt rhetoric (degree 'value', STEM above all else, etc). Also, I think, the changes to the A-level English curriculum some years ago making it a less popular A-Level choice.

Specifically on English, the no. of students taking English at A Level has fallen off a cliff. So the numbers choosing it at university are similarly declining. It's not a reflection on the quality of the HE provision but what's happening in secondary schools:

https://feweek.co.uk/changes-to-gcse-blamed-for-crisis-drop-in-a-level-english-exam-entries/

@GinForBreakfast

DC are still in primary and I'm in social science, I had no idea about this...memorisation?! That's terrible!

@Flockameanie Yes, and the focus on graduate employment after a year - 15 months - is crazy to me. The types of work humanities/ social science grads often attracted to - media & journalism, the arts, creative industries, NGOs and charities, politics, academia, or transitioning into professions like law and teaching.....they often require time spent interning, or working in casual jobs to save for further study (or to fund said internships).

I also don't know how they class graduate and non-graduate employment (might look that up). I can think of some examples where some might go into non-graduate roles in certain areas, but their degree may help them move up the ladder or go into more specialist roles later.

Sorry just another Q - doesn't REF heavily count in league tables though, and aren't management obsessed with those?

Yeah, no. The only time we ever teach undergrads online now is when students request it. Students simply don't turn up to f2f teaching half the time.

Some PG courses are online or part-online but most of those are CPD-focused (in my School) so aimed at people already in full-time work. We recruit to those from across the country and the online provision is seen as a positive.

Email arrived today offering EVR. Won't be worth it for me as I've not been there long enough. No option but to keep my head down and my fingers crossed.

I also don't know how they class graduate and non-graduate employment (might look that up). I can think of some examples where some might go into non-graduate roles in certain areas, but their degree may help them move up the ladder or go into more specialist roles later.

They use SOC codes.... standard occupational classification.
And yes, careers and employability specialists raise these issues all of the time!!

Sorry just another Q - doesn't REF heavily count in league tables though, and aren't management obsessed with those?

League tables will be using ref 2021 for the new few years though. No point building up a research pipeline if your institution won't last till ref 2028.

Yep, that’s exactly what we’ve been told

REF counts for nothing if the institution wants to refocus around Law, Business, Psychology, as I believe at Goldsmiths.

League tables are simultaneously nonsense and incredibly important.

The whole system has tied itself in knots. Too much government interference trying and failing to create a "market economy" in HE. I'm not saying that there was ever a golden time in UK universities but the current state is pretty poor.

Any predictions for what the next few years might look like for the sector? Precarious social Sci ECR at the start of my career and scared!

Are you sure about this? Nearly all our teaching is delivered face to face, noting some lectures are recorded to help students who were unable to attend, but they still take place live. There are a few courses which are ‘distance learning’ but they’ve always been delivered that way, it’s nothing to do with COVID.

Lecturers still have just as much timetabled contact time as pre COVID.

My place has doubled its classroom contact hours post COVID.

@tizalinatuna

Such a shame. From my understanding, Goldsmiths is known, and has a decent reputation, for everything artsy and critical....but not so much for business and law 🤔. Unis seem to be actively disowning their own niches.

@Plating

Same! Although I have always doubted that I myself would ever manage to get a permanent job - so have plan Bs and Cs that I've been working on since starting my phd.

But I always thought if you were part of the talented fortunate minority who actually managed to get a permanent job you were fairly safe. I can't imagine going through everything we have to go through to finally get a job and then lose it like this. It's just terrible. Feel so much for those here affected.

It feels like it is hitting overdrive. I am hearing of strongly pushed Vol Sev prior to Comp Red at Surrey, Nottingham Trent, Kent, Goldsmiths, QMUL ... directed at HSS mainly. Anywhere else?

Oxford Brookes - although I think they've headed it off at the pass by persuading management to let people go on reduced contracts (which is I think what happened at Birkbeck and UEA, although not sure...)