Ulster University could face additional cuts Derry & Strabane Council told
Ulster University’s Vice-Chancellor has said he has been told to expect “additional cuts”, beyond planned redundancies.
Speaking to Derry City and Strabane District Council, Professor Paul Bartholomew said the draft Executive budget indicates further cuts to teaching and research.
In April, the University announced plans to cut up to 450 jobs across its Belfast, Coleraine, and Derry campuses.
In response, Derry City and Strabane District Council requested that Mr Bartholomew attend the Guildhall and speak with members around “the 450 proposed job cuts and educational provision, particularly the Magee expansion”.
Speaking during a special council meeting on Wednesday, July 22, Professor Bartholomew said that compared to the 2009/10 year, UU receives 63 percent less money in real terms to teach each government-funded student.
He said that while the university is “well-managed and financially responsible”, and has diversified its income through international recruitment, inflation has increased costs and “added further pressure to our operating model”.
He added: “The result is stark: while our income has grown strongly, our costs have grown much faster.
“Since I've been Vice-Chancellor in 2020 we've actually added about £90 million a year into our income line, but that's not been sufficient now to keep up with increased costs.
“We're now facing an annual deficit of around £25 million, and without action our cash reserves would be exhausted before the end of the decade.
“The draft Executive budget indicates further pressure. We've already been asked to plan for cuts to both teaching and research funding. These are additional cuts over and above what we've seen chronically over a number of years. Put simply, the financial context since we've made our announcement is not improving, it is deteriorating.”
A UU spokesperson said back in April: “Redundancies across the Higher Education Sector have become unavoidable. To date, more than 100 institutions across the UK have downsized their staffing complement.
"Ulster University has sought to hold off on making redundancies while continuing to work with the Department for the Economy, through their reviews, on possible changes to the HE funding model in Northern Ireland.
"It has recently been made clear to us that a sustainable funding model is not going to be forthcoming, and regretfully we must now act to reduce our costs.”