‘It’s an enormous act of vandalism’: Cardiff UCU president speaks out about proposed cuts

The President of the UCU told The Cardiff Tab in an interview, that the proposed cuts at Cardiff University are an “enormous act of educational vandalism”.

Following a recent protest held by the UCU outside of the Senedd by the UCU, Dr Joey Whitfield, the President of the UCU and a senior lecturer in Hispanic studies at Cardiff University, has given insight into lecturer responses to the staff and course cuts proposed by the university.

Talking about whether the university’s proposals were a shock to staff, Dr Whitfield said everyone was surprised. Adding that lecturers knew management were talking about savings as “they’d paused promotions and stopped recruiting new staff”, which he said caused workloads to increase.

However, speaking about the scale of the proposals, he further explained: “The scale and viciousness of these cuts were not anything that anyone could have imagined, including lots of senior people who were working on how to make efficiencies. Whereas everyone was just blindsided by it.”

Protestors outside the Senedd

He also added that staff found out about the cuts through the media, telling The Cardiff Tab: “Rumours started to come out. Actually, last week I was getting contacted by the BBC asking if it was true that music was going to be completely cut. And obviously I asked our rep in music and the head of school who knew nothing about that and said ‘no’.

“So yeah, somebody who knew was talking to staff. But the upshot was that, yeah, staff heard about this first from the media rather than from managers.”

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This is something reiterated by one nursing lecturer who told students in an email that they found out they could be potentially losing their job through the press.

A Cardiff University spokesperson said: “It is deeply regrettable that proposals were leaked and staff and students learnt of these proposals from the media. It was always our intention to inform our staff and students first. A series of in-person town hall briefings were arranged ahead of direct communications being sent to impacted members of staff and more widely to all staff and students. Information has also been made available on both our staff and student intranets.”

As previously reported, nursing is one of a number of subjects expected to be cut, including modern foreign languages and music. When asked about his thoughts towards nursing being cut, a subject Cardiff ranks highly for, Dr Whitfield said: “It’s devastating and just, I guess, speaks to the shambolic nature of what they seem to be doing.”

Regarding the School of Nursing proposal, a Cardiff University spokesperson said: “It’s important to stress that these are proposals and there is still a great deal of detail to work through before any final decisions are made. In the short term there will be no immediate impact on nursing students or their ability to complete their studies. We are committed to delivering nursing degree programmes to the students starting in 2025. We are acutely aware of our role in delivering the next generation of healthcare professionals for Wales and beyond and are actively consulting with all stakeholders on our proposals.”

A question that has also been at the front of many students’ minds, especially those currently on placements and years abroad, is if they can continue their studies.

Dr Whitfield explained that there will be a “teach out” meaning that students will continue with their subjects.

He said the university has guaranteed “students will have ‘degrees they can be proud of'” but he told The Cardiff Tab: “That’s not the degree they applied for. It’s not the same wording, there’s no clarity around that,” adding: “We don’t know what’s going on.”

He also noted that he feels the wording of this “teach out” is, for students, “extremely confusing and I think, deliberately confusing”.

A Cardiff University spokesperson said: “In the immediate term, there will be no impact. The University will ensure that all students who are enrolled in programmes are able to complete their studies.

“Where programmes are closed as a result of these proposals, teach-out plans will be developed to protect and support students, ensuring that all students continue to receive a high-quality student experience. There will be consultation with students and staff to inform the development of teach-out plans.

“A Discontinuation of Programmes Oversight Group – chaired by the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education and Student Experience) will provide oversight on the appropriateness of the teach-out plans, the delivery of these plans, impact on students, and the mitigation of risks.”

66a Park Place, the home of Cardiff University’s modern languages courses via Google Maps

We further asked for clarifications on whether current staff will be teaching the courses until their completion, and whether this will affect class sizes, something crucial to know for languages students who are often taught in small seminars.

The Hispanic studies lecturer responded: “I don’t know, but it doesn’t look good. They’ve offered no guarantees. I don’t know who will be teaching out those courses, whether it will be the current lecturers or other people, maybe on temporary contracts. I just don’t know.”

Dr Whitfield also spoke about how the UCU believes Cardiff is in one of the best financial positions of any Russell Group university.

He said: “Cardiff is in a much better position than any other Russell Group university, possibly apart from Southampton, and yet, it is taking the harshest line on the cuts. 400 academic staff is more than anyone else. And, it’s not just 400 jobs because then after those academic staff have gone, all of the professional services staff that support them will also go.

“It’s quite clear that they are talking about huge cuts and a new vision for how teaching is done at this university. They’re trying to get rid of all kind of small group subjects, like languages where small group teaching is necessary. They have a vision for massive class sizes and just a few subjects. So the kind of diversity of the whole ecosystem, they want to get rid of.”

Dr Whitfield further claimed that Cardiff University has £500 million in “unrestricted reserves”, although they cannot use all of this money. However, he added the UCU believes £188 million of this money could be potentially used.

“[The £188 million] would cover [the £30 million financial deficit] for many years, which would turn things around more gradually and in order to find creative ways to improve things which don’t involve this enormous act of educational vandalism,” he explained.

Regarding the university’s finances, a Cardiff University spokesperson said: “Accounting surpluses do not reflect the underlying financial position of running the University. Accounting surpluses are not the same as cash that can be spent to avoid the need to make change in the University. The University faces a structural deficit. This means the revenues we generate from teaching and research do not cover the costs of undertaking these activities.

“We have already said publicly that the annual report and accounts show that we generated a deficit in this respect of £31.2m for the year ending 31st July 2024. In short, the costs of teaching and research activities were £31.2m more than the income we generated. This is not sustainable. Like all universities whilst the University does have reserves, this is not the same as money that the University can freely spend.”

Cardiff music students during a “busk protest”

Dr Whitfield also spoke about concerns regarding the future student cohort, telling The Cardiff Tab that these proposals could do more harm than good for the university: “It’s a huge act of self-harm. There’s this completely contradictory desire to promote Cardiff as this excellent world-leading university with global ambition, and yet they’re cutting the learning of foreign languages.

“They’re cutting 400 academic staff who do research. I mean, how is that going to improve the standing of this university? I just don’t understand it and it seems, yeah, just like this sort of cruelty for the sake of it really.”

Upon concluding the interview, Dr Whitfield explained how students can support lecturers potentially losing their jobs. He said: “We have been incredibly moved as lecturers and staff by the student response.

“We’ve had staff crying in lectures and being comforted by their students and it’s just incredible to see that kind of solidarity and support, and I would urge students to come out and support us to write to their MPs, to write to the vice-chancellor.” 

In response, a Cardiff University spokesperson said: “We understand and recognise the strength of feeling amongst our staff. We remain committed to working with our staff, including UCU and our other campus unions, to deliver a sustainable future for our University. With the financial challenges we face, we have to take difficult and challenging decisions. No change is not an option. We have been clear throughout; these are proposals and our final plans will be shaped by our University community through formal consultation and our commitment to partnership working.

“We urge UCU to work with us so we can move forward in the best interests of our staff and to secure the long-term future for our University. The scale of the challenge remains, but the way that we address it will certainly be refined and developed over the next 90 days.”

For those wishing to sign petitions regarding the proposals, the nursing one can be found here, the languages one can be found here, the music one here, and ancient history here.

Featured image via X