KCL threaten to slash 120 jobs to fund new uni buildings

KCL are planning to pump a huge £400 million into new uni buildings – at the expense of up to 120 academic staff.

Tensions have been rising between KCL and its academic staff following the shock announcement that over a hundred jobs could be slashed in order to fund a new £400 million investment plan.

If given the go ahead, despite no prior consultation between the college and its staff, students and unions, affected staff in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Science and the Institute of Psychiatry will be handed notes of dismissal as early August.

The decisions will be based on rankings determined by factors including research grants and teaching hours, and have raised fears that job cuts could be seen across the college in order to fund these new capital ventures.

This week, a ballot for industrial action opened for members of the University and College Union (UCU) at KCL in response to what the union has described as a “brutal and unnecessary redundancy crisis”. According to them the proposals “represent senior management’s most serious assault on staff and students” since the 2009-10 Academic and Financial Sustainability Plan, which saw the entire school on notice of redundancy.

While staff pursue action, KCL Health School students have set up a petition for the attention of Principal Rick Trainor (which you can sign here). The petition has already amassed almost two thousand signatures, and calls for extended consultation period (it is currently the legal minimum of 45 days), alternative measures to job cuts, and a thorough assessment of the negative impact of the cuts.

With KCL student satisfaction recently plummeting from 51^st to 111^th place out of the 123 universities included in the National Student Survey, there are fears that this latest decision will only serve to compromise students’ experience even further.

This concern is echoed by UCU Regional Official Barry Jones, who said: “Investment in staff should be a priority, and a recent survey of students showed us that this is a greater priority than investment in infrastructure.”

“King’s, however,” he added, “Has chosen to prioritise buildings over staff’.”