EDINBURGH University will axe more staff and will consider flogging buildings amid a major funding crisis, employees have been warned.
In an email to staff shared with The National, principal Peter Mathieson said Edinburgh University was forecast to run a deficit in the coming years and would need to make cuts.
He said that an existing scheme to make voluntary redundancies would “not be enough on its own” to bring down costs, adding: “We must, therefore, reimagine the future of our university, changing how we work. This will require university-wide actions which will also result in a smaller staff base.”
Mathieson said that an increased workforce and rising pay were “no longer sustainable”.
The estate of the university was also putting pressure on the institution’s finances, Mathieson (below) said, adding: “We need recurrent savings: although recent publicity has focused on our capital expenditure, reducing this would only be a short-term measure to improve our cash position: it would do nothing to address the underlying issues.
“That said, better utilisation of our estate, improved heating management, and acting to dispose of assets that are no longer a strategic priority for us, all have the potential to reduce our sizeable annual estate maintenance and operating costs.”
Mathieson blamed a range of factors for the university’s poor financial position, including “flat cash” funding settlements from the Government, “inflation, post-Covid supply-chain issues, steeply rising utilities costs at least partly attributable to war in Europe, recent unexpected announcements on national insurance rises”.
He added: “All of this has been exacerbated by the reduction in the attractiveness of the UK as a destination for international students.
“Inclusion of students in net migration numbers; new legislation especially around dependent visas; geopolitics and economic factors including the currency crisis in Nigeria have all led to falls in international student numbers and increasing competition amongst UK providers.”
