Edinburgh University to seek £140m in savings

Edinburgh University has been accused of "academic vandalism" after announcing plans for £140m of cuts to tackle severe financial difficulties.

The university's principal and vice-chancellor, Prof Sir Peter Mathieson, said in a message to staff that "radical action" would be needed to ensure a "sustainable reduction" in costs to help the institution cope with falling income and higher bills.

The drop in income was partly blamed on a lower number of international students coming to the UK.

Unions said the plans would result in "devastating cuts" and called for Edinburgh University to use some of its assets to address the financial issues.

Sir Peter's message to staff stated that Edinburgh would be in "operational deficit" in upcoming years.

He said: "The size of the financial gap that we need to close over the next 18 months is about 10% of our annual turnover – a similar percentage to that of many other universities.

"This has to be a recurring and sustainable reduction in our costs. For us, this is of the order of £140m. To put this into context, it costs around £120m a month to run the University of Edinburgh.

"To make these recurrent savings, we need radical university-wide actions, which will lead to a smaller staff base and lower operating costs."

The university did not detail the number of staff reductions or if the plans involved compulsory redundancies.

The message added that a review of all "capital expenditure" by the university – including previously approved projects – would now take place, and that "tough decisions and bold actions" would have to be made.

Sir Peter said the cuts could ensure the university was on a stable financial footing by 2026/27.

The University and College Union (Scotland) called the news "shocking" and said it would harm the university's reputation.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady argued that Edinburgh should look to its net assets - which the union say are worth £3.1bn - to plug gaps rather cut jobs.

Ms Grady said: "Professor Mathieson needs to use the billions of pounds the university boasts in wealth to protect jobs, protect provision and protect the university's global reputation.

"The Scottish government also needs to call on university management to halt these devastating cuts. Scotland cannot afford to allow one of its great public institutions to engage in academic vandalism of this scale."

Edinburgh University's student union said while it understood the need for savings, "the university must prioritise student experience" above anything else.

The announcement was made shortly before Finance Secretary Shona Robison announced £15m of funding to help struggling universities.

Staff were previously warned last year that job cuts beyond voluntary redundancy would be likely due to "unsustainable funding" for the university, while a previous e-mail from Sir Peter said "nothing" would be off the table to save costs.

The news comes the same week as Dundee University staff began strike action to protest proposed job cuts there, which the institution say is needed to help cover a potential £30m deficit.

Last year Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen announced plans to cut 135 roles in a bid to save money.

Scores of other universities, including Liverpool, Cardiff and Durham, have also recently announced cost-saving plans.

During the final debate on the Scottish Budget at Holyrood on Tuesday, Robison said she recognised that Dundee University faced an "immediate challenge".

She said: "I can inform the chamber that up to £15m of financial transactions will be made available to the Scottish Funding Council to support the sector and universities such as the University of Dundee.

"Further work will be ongoing in the coming weeks on this matter, and the minister for higher education will keep parliament updated."