HUNDREDS of staff at a top Scottish university have taken voluntary redundancy as bosses warned lay offs could come further down the line.
Around 350 members of staff at Edinburgh University have accepted voluntary severance as the institution struggles to get a grip on its finances.
In a letter to all staff, Professor Peter Mathieson also announced a freeze on academic promotions for the 2025–26 academic year and signalled that further cuts may be needed, The Herald reports.
Edinburgh faces a £140 million financial black hole, equivalent to about 10% of the university’s annual turnover.
Those affected by the severance scheme will receive formal confirmation on April 30, and managers have been told to monitor workloads as staff depart.
Prof Mathieson (above) wrote: “Around 350 staff have been accepted for voluntary severance. Even though this may seem like a relatively small number within our large university population, this will likely result in year-on-year cost savings of around £18m – an important part of our drive to save costs.”
He added: “We have also agreed to pause academic promotions until we reach a more stable financial position. This means that there will be no application process opening in the academic year 2025–26.
“I realise that this will disappoint our academic colleagues, but this is needed to further contribute to our overall cost-saving measures. We will use this intervening period to make improvements to future academic promotions processes based on the feedback we received through the review held last year.”
Under the heading “Next steps,” Prof Mathieson said the university needed to “deliver further changes to our size, shape and ways of working".
“I and others have previously stated that it is not possible at this stage to rule out compulsory redundancies," he went on.
“The subsequent level of staff savings that will still need to be made is being assessed, and budget holders have been working to identify proposed savings as part of the Planning Round decision-making process.
“This work is informing the development of an overall budget and five-year plan, for presentation to court in the summer.”
Prof Mathieson said the financial challenges facing Edinburgh were “by no means exclusive to our university".
“I will continue to call for a fairer funding model fit for the long term, and will keep you all updated as we progress with our financial sustainability improvements.”
The University and College Union (UCU) has previously warned that cuts to staff could have a serious impact on students’ learning and academic standards.
Staff were balloted on strike action earlier this month, with the UCU claiming that cuts were unnecessary as Edinburgh University's £3 billion net assets made it one of the richest higher education institutions in the country.
Prof Mathieson has previously suggested introducing tuition fees as a solution to the funding crisis engulfing Scottish universities.
Dundee University staff have also been balloted on strike action after reports suggested that more than 600 employees may be for the chop.
The UCU was approached for comment.
