Cardiff University’s £30 million black hole could lead to job losses for staff, says VC

Cardiff University is under financial pressure as it addresses the £30 million black hole in its budget and staff confront the prospect of job losses.

Last month, Cardiff University closed its voluntary redundancy scheme as staff say they feel “stress and anxiety” about their “uncertain future” with the members of the University and College Union calling for the university’s leaders to fight for better funding.

According to BBC News, Cardiff’s vice-chancellor, Professor Wendy Larner, said that cutting staff costs was only part of the plan to save about £9m and to address the funding deficit.

Larner also said: “At this stage, we are not talking about compulsory redundancies.

“But given how quickly things are changing in the sector around us… of course, I can’t rule it out.”

She then added that the university’s recruitment freeze would continue “until we get our financial house in order”.

In response to this uncertainty branch president Dr Joey Whitfield said: “We are appalled to hear the vice-chancellor fail to reassure her staff on compulsory redundancies”.

This comes after the increase in tuition fees in Wales, which was one of the many strategies implemented by the Welsh government in order to address the budget shortfall of Welsh universities.

However, deputy vice-chancellor, Professor Andrew Edwards, said that the extra £250 in tuition fees last year did not go far enough to meet the extra university costs.

“The funding model has to be looked at,” he said.

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Professor Larner told the BBC that Cardiff University’s strategy would be about “qualitative change, not just quantitative change”. For this, the university will have to develop new sources of income, one of which Larner has said will include having more international partnerships to run courses and the usage of the university’s buildings being renewed.

Cardiff University is not the only Welsh university feeling the pressure, as most of Wales’ institutions have announced measures to deal with financial difficulties in what the Welsh government is calling a “challenging financial period”. This is partially due to growing costs and reduced income from international students.

After suffering from a drop in student numbers, Bangor University has offered its staff voluntary severance, revealing in an email to staff that it faced “unprecedented financial pressures,” with a £9 million budget deficit this year.

The University of South Wales has also said it is considering redundancies due to similar circumstances of a projected £20m deficit.

In response to a reference she made to a “transformation fund” in the Senedd, Vikki Howells, the further and higher education minister wrote: “I would like to clarify that the policy in this area remains at a very exploratory stage, and we are still working through what, if any, potential support mechanism may look like.”

Adding that the government “do not believe there is any Welsh institution that is at risk of failure”.

The Welsh government have been watching over the universities at this time and said that the institutions are being monitored by Medr, the new body responsible for funding this sector. However, the government has also been considering introducing an emergency fund in case any Welsh university needs “bailing out”.

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• North Wales Medical School officially opens its doors at Bangor University