Financial Recovery: Are Students Voices Being Heard.

Nick Whelan

On Tuesday Evening on invitation, Vice-Principal Blair Grubb, and Dean of SHSL Jeff Blackford, attended the monthly meeting of the Student Representative Council (SRC). The meeting was a welcomed event by the SRC council, allowing students the opportunity to hear the plans for the university moving forward.

The Vice-Principal opened with a sincere apology (as was noted, the first to be made directly to students), and talked through the current financial situation the university faces, with a deficit amounting to £35m. The presentation explained some of the reasoning behind the current situation, citing falling international student recruitment, current economic and political pressures.

Grubb stated a need to think ‘thoughtfully and radically’ about the financial recovery plan to rebuild a ‘lean, distinctive, competitive and financially health academic institution’.

It is clear that international student recruitment has taken a dive over the past few years (despite a bounce in 2022/2023). This has occurred for a number of reasons. Global exchange rate crisis, paired with a scrapping of the dependency visa scheme has discouraged a significant number of international students from applying to the university.

A breakdown of the intended job cuts was laid out into 3 categories. 197 from academic staff, 119 from professional services within the schools and 316 from professional services in the university directories. Grubb explained that the focus would be on voluntary redundancies, but they did not expect to reach the quoted figure with these alone.

The recovery plan is headed by a major re-structuring of the 11 existing faculties down to just 3. Questions were raised about the impact this may have on staff, teaching and students. A 20% cut to ‘module delivery’ is planned. In practice, this will largely be a reduction in teacher workloads. However, when asked directly what is to be cut, Blackfordexplained that modules with very low subscription rates will likely be the main focus, alongside some master's programs, which invariably have the potential to become loss makersdue to a loss in student fees.

It was stated clearly that teaching could not be allowed to run at a loss. However, those which are required for accreditation to professional bodies will remain untouched.

Concerns were raised relating to the identities of the individual schools and what might be at stake if they were to be merged. Both Grubb and Blackford addressed this with particular reference to the schools that have built a reputation of their own, such as DJCAD. It Is still unclear how they will specifically be affected.

The SRC were told that the outlook for the university going forward is to be based on conservative and realistic numbers of student intake and financial outlook, but that this was the safest approach to prevent the situation worsening.

Another question was raised regarding the large salaries of the senior management team, and how this could be reconciled with the decisions to cut hundreds of jobs. Emphasis was placed on ex-Principal Iain Gillespie, but it was made clear that he is no longer employed by the university and as such, no longer receives a salary.

The meeting drew to a close with a firm commitment by Grubb to open a consultation with students in the coming weeks regarding the plans for the university.

Until the external investigation concludes, there will remain significant questions to be answered regarding other causes of the current crisis the university has found itself in. Particularly, regarding the conduct of university management at the time, and the extent to which this has contributed to the financial predicament the university faces.