Aberdeen University: Cuts needed to save millions

The University of Aberdeen is looking to save millions of pounds

The University of Aberdeen has announced it needs to make cuts in a bid to save millions of pounds.

The university said it had made progress on improving its financial position but needed to make more savings.

This will include stopping almost all staff recruitment and revisiting voluntary redundancies.

The university said it was "regrettable but necessary".

The news comes amid industrial action at the University of Dundee over hundreds of planned job cuts.

Lecturers at Robert Gordon University (RGU) in Aberdeen also started strike action earlier this week, while there is also a ballot under way among staff at the University of Edinburgh.

The university said in a statement: "We've made good progress on stabilising and improving our financial position by managing our costs, setting tough savings targets and pausing recruitment on many roles.

"We now need to make further savings as costs for 2025/26 are set to climb by at least £4.7m due to higher National Insurance contributions, last year's pay award, the payment of increments and inflationary pressures across a wide range of areas.

"We are taking early action to bring costs down and this includes stopping almost all staff recruitment, revisiting voluntary severance and enhanced retirement for previously declined applications and pausing the academic promotion exercise."

The statement added: "The steps are regrettable but necessary to help us offset some of our rising costs and continue to navigate unprecedented times for our sector."

The Aberdeen branch of the University and College Union (UCU) said the announcement was "really disappointing".

Co-chair Prof David Clough said staff had disputes with the university last year over "threats to jobs" and concerns around university management.

He said: "This year has been a difficult one for staff in different ways because, after a lot of staff left last year through voluntary severance and early retirement, workloads across the university have got higher and higher.

"Increasing numbers of staff are finding that their jobs are unsustainable. And to be told that all promotions are being frozen across the university when people are already overstretched, it's really difficult and demoralising."

Prof Clough warned that more redundancies could impact the student experience due to staff being "even more overstretched".

He said the union would work to find a solution with senior management, but it would consider "all possible action" if the university announced compulsory redundancies.

The university said it was taking action to bring costs down

The University of Aberdeen's future was recently in "significant doubt" due to financial pressures, according to its annual report in May last year.

Uncertainties such as rising costs and falling numbers of international students were highlighted.

It described a "material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt over the ability to continue as a going concern".

However, the university had said the report set out the potential risk if action was not taken, and that it was now on a firm financial footing.

Higher Education Minister Graeme Dey said: "This will be an anxious time for staff and students at the university, and students should be supported through this period and receive timely information about the impact of any disruption on their studies.

"While Aberdeen University is an autonomous institution, we would urge the university and trade unions to engage constructively to resolve disputes.

"Any decisions taken should be based on the principles of fair work, and compulsory redundancies considered only ever be used as a last resort, after all other cost-saving measures have been fully explored."

What is happening at other universities?

The latest news comes amid a period of enormous uncertainty for Scotland's universities.

The University of Dundee is battling to tackle a £35m deficit and previously announced that 632 positions would be cut.

Earlier this month, the Unite union said members would be balloted on strike action following reports the institution could cut up to 700 jobs.

In February, some staff began three weeks of strike action.

UCU Scotland said that 74% of its members had backed the walkout, on a turnout of 64%.

Lecturers at RGU in Aberdeen went on strike on Tuesday over redundancies.

RGU announced in November that more redundancies could be made after 130 staff left through a voluntary severance scheme last year. It hopes there will be fewer than 60 further redundancies.

The EIS teaching union said members had been left with "no other option" but to take strike action, vowing more strikes in May and September.

And staff at the University of Edinburgh are also being balloted on strike action in a dispute over plans to cut £140m from its budget and fears of compulsory redundancies.