Sheffield Hallam University has announced a range of cost-saving measures to help with their budget deficit, including opening voluntary redundancy schemes for academic staff.
The University is aiming to reduce their academic staff by around 5% through this process, and are looking to consolidate a number of departments to cut expenditure.
Alongside this they have reduced spending on their non-academic operating budgets and stopped all recruitment for vacant posts.
When pressed for comment by Forge Press, Sheffield Hallam University referenced their public statement made in mid-January.
The university argued the changes are necessary due to inflation, “rising energy and pension costs, and a UK undergraduate fee that has remained at the same level for more than a decade” as well as “Recent changes to visa rules introduced by the UK government” which has made recruiting international students more difficult.
In response, Hallam’s UCU branch (the union which represents academic staff nationwide) passed a trade dispute motion in response to, what they describe as “unprecedented cuts to academic staff”.
They stress that “the ball is in senior management’s court” and that they “hope for more meaningful negotiations soon”.
Image Credits: Education Concern
