Students will suffer under staff cuts plan - union

Keele University bosses said 2,300 members of staff would be eligibile to apply for voluntary redundancy

Asking its staff to consider taking voluntary redundancy shows a university "cares little for morale" and the plan will mean students will suffer, says a union.

Earlier this week, Keele University revealed it would open an application process to its 2,300 members of staff, to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

The Keele branch of the University and College Union (UCU) said it understood the current financial pressures bosses were facing but said staff cuts would negatively impact students.

The university said frozen tuition fees and high inflation were to blame for the situation, and said its case-by-case approach would mean no impact on student experience.

A spokesperson for Keele UCU said: “It will not be possible to fulfil this promise when significant numbers of staff stand to be lost without replacement.

“The student experience is bound to suffer when the university has shown it cares little for staff morale and workloads, nor have they offered suggestions other than reduced staff numbers and increased student fees.”

They joined calls from the national UCU for political intervention to ease pressures on the higher education sector.

Keele University bosses said they had successfully mitigated challenges over the last few years, but that they needed to safeguard the university’s future ability to deliver education and research.

A spokesperson for Keele UCU said: “We have been through a series of restructures in recent years, and the university is now demanding a significant curriculum redesign to a punishingly short timescale.

“This voluntary severance scheme is one of many staff cut exercises since 2018, which have done little to improve Keele's financial situation.”