Union leaders have supported calls for universities to avoid shedding staff over the coming months after the issue was raised at the Scottish Parliament.
The University and College Union (UCU) welcomed comments from education secretary Mike Russell, who said universities should follow the government’s lead of imposing no compulsory redundancies wherever possible.
Answering a question from Jenny Marra MSP, Mr Russell welcomed clear messages on that front being sent to university principals even though funding cuts have forced many colleges and universities to re-examine what courses they can afford to offer.
Last week Glasgow and Strathclyde universities announced course closures that prompted concerns over compulsory redundancies, while University of St Andrews vice-principal Stephen Magee also denounced claims by Unite, Unison, the UCU and the university’s students’ association that hundreds of employees could lose their jobs as “scaremongering.”
In light of the comments by Mr Russell, Mary Senior, UCU Scottish official, called on universities to collaboration with unions to avoid compulsory redundancies and meet the wishes of the cabinet secretary for education.
“Rather than ploughing ahead with cuts, principals should take heed of Mike Russell’s comments on compulsory redundancies,” she insisted.
“Universities should work with unions to avoid compulsory redundancies and re-think plans that target courses which are vital to Scotland’s future.”
The comments come less than a week after Mr Magee dismissed suggestions the lowest paid and most vulnerable members of staff at the University of St Andrews will be hardest hit by restructuring.
“There is no question of this university making hundreds of people redundant,” he told The Courier. “Despite these hugely difficult economic times our government funding alone was cut by 10.7% this year this claim is simply not true.”
Reviews are currently under way in the university’s residential and business services and IT and business improvement units with a view to improving services, according to the university, not to cut jobs.Legal requirementOnly a very small number of staff are said to be at risk of redundancy, and they may be redeployed, while the university added it is legally bound to notify all staff if posts are at risk.
“It is very regrettable that the process negotiated between university leadership and trade unions compels us to send letters to a large number of people when in fact only a very small number may be at risk of redundancy,” Mr Magee continued.
Scotland’s third largest college, Adam Smith College in Fife, decided against completely closing its theatre arts department earlier this year after a public campaign was waged against the move, although its review which focused on the range and level of courses provided at the college and the ways in which staffing, management, campuses and a wide range of supporting services could best support courses on offer had some other implications.
Engineering is one area expected to see growth, while sports studies will see an “element of reduction,” the college stated.