By Grant Smith, education reporter

STUDENTS AND staff of Dundee University will hold a protest rally today ahead of a meeting of its governing body that could see a multi-million pound cuts package voted through.

The university court will be presented with a report from the sustainability review group that will recommend a series of savings designed to move the budget from its current deficit to a 3% surplus by 2010-11.

Modern languages, community education and town planning are all expected to be affected by the changes, along with student and academic support services such as the library and the botanic garden.

Today’s meeting, provided the proposals are accepted, is unlikely to be followed by a detailed announcement of exactly where the cuts will fall or how many posts will be lost—that will require further work.

The university has already said it will hold talks with the trade unions representing academic and non-academic staff to try to avoid compulsory redundancies, but it is certain that a substantial number of jobs will go.

Students and staff—and rector-elect Craig Murray—have voiced their opposition to the cutbacks and the last public protest saw about 150 to 200 people take part.

The court has particular responsibility for the employment of staff and the management and administration of property and finance. It has 23 members, including university chancellor Lord Naren Patel, principal and vice-chancellor Sir Alan Langlands and out-going rector Lorraine Kelly.

Dundee’s Lord Provost John Letford is also a member, along with several academic staff and the president of the students’ association, and there are several co-opted members.

They will be presented with the results of the work of the sustainability review group, headed by Professor Michael Davies, which was given the task of ensuring the university’s long-term financial health.

The budget is facing a £1.6 million deficit this year, with the same again expected next year. Reaching a 3% surplus will mean making a net improvement of £6.85 million in the underlying income and expenditure position over the next three years.

Professor Davies and his colleagues are recommending cutting the size of the town and regional planning group and the community education group and reducing the provision of modern languages teaching.

They also propose significant cost reductions and efficiency improvements in the student and academic support services including the library, research and innovation services and estates, along with staffing cuts linked to improved workload and workforce planning.

More income is supposed to come from efforts to attract more fee-paying foreign and postgraduate students.

One of the students fearing the effects of cuts in modern languages is Stephen Ritchie, who is in his third year at the university and takes part in the “languages for all” programme.

He has sent an Email to Sir Alan in which he says, “The sustainability group clearly operates solely on economic data and statistics, but they are not sufficient in giving a balanced view on the pros and cons of this operation.

“Anyone that bothers to interact with the student community will know that the university is extremely cosmopolitan, with a vast array of foreign students coming from all over the world.

“Clearly, it is the universities’ current expansion programme—which has eaten up a larger sum of money already than was originally projected—that the cuts are going to subsidise.

“With the expansion programme, which aims at boosting numbers at the university, the number and diversity of foreign students will surely increase. So it seems counter-intuitive that the university should plan such cuts in the languages department.

“Although Dundee University actively encourages those from abroad to come and study here, we provide no substantial language facilities or support that can appeal to foreign students.

“Making cutbacks in the language department to the extent that you suggest would not only be an exercise in ignorance, it would also damage the reputation of the university worldwide…”