Fears of jobs cull on Harrow campus

Feb 16 2010 By Ian Proctor

A JOBS cull to save more than £8-million has been announced at the University of Westminster – with the lecturers' union fearing the Harrow campus could be hit disproportionally hard.

Approximately 285 staff will go, a number the university says will be "broadly split" between 195 academic staff, who are represented by the University and College Union (UCU), and 90 support staff, whose union is Unison.

There is no campus-by-campus breakdown yet but the Harrow branch of the UCU believes computing courses, which are based at the Watford Road, Harrow, hub, could be earmarked for losses.

The UCU branded the redundancies "hasty, punishing and unnecessary".

In a statement, the university said: "A funding gap of £11 million in the budget will exist in 2010/11 and to bridge part of this gap the university has estimated it needs to reduce staff costs by £8.3 million.

"Our staff costs have risen out of line with our income and are now above the sector norm.

"The funding council, HEFCE, have set a maximum benchmark of 65 per cent of income, which we are now approaching.

"The university will therefore need to reduce its staff numbers by approximately 285 posts.

"It is the university’s intention to manage any reductions in staff or other budgets in a way that doesn’t compromise its ability to deliver quality teaching and research."

Barry Jones, UCU regional official, said: "The devastating cuts to higher education funding are no secret despite government promises to protect education.

"What is less clear is the logic behind the university's plans. Where does the random 60 per cent staff costs figure come from? Why must redundancies be made in such a hasty fashion?

"Where is the long-term strategic plan? What is the real financial situation at the university?

"Until these questions are answered and the university opens its books nobody can have any confidence in the university’s plans or actions.

"These cuts are both punishing and unnecessary."

Mr Jones said indications of the level of savings sought by the university and seen by the union showed that the School of Electronics and Computer Science, largely based at the Harrow Campus, could "take the lion's share" of job losses.

He said this is compounded by a plan, already in motion, to completely relocate the school to Cavenish Campus in central London.

Consultation with the unions ends on April 22 when an announcement will be relayed to employees.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) confirmed, contrary to what the university told the Observer, there is no cap on the percentage of a university's budget that can be spent on staffing and that the HEFCE has no power to introduce one.