On 9 February the University and College Union (UCU) branch at the University of Aberdeen published a position paper called ‘Break the silence’. The paper outlines the cuts proposed by university management and counters management’s contention that cuts are both necessary and unavoidable arguing instead that the university is on course for a cash surplus for 2024. The full paper is copied below:
“Breaking the Silence: An Aberdeen UCU position paper on the (mis)management of our University, 9th February 2024
“According to our Principal, this ancient university is facing an unprecedented crisis which necessitates cuts which will destroy the livelihoods of long-serving university staff and impoverish the education of our students. Although AUCU has made multiple requests for finance and planning data since October 2023, we are met with silence. The Senior Management Team and University Court variously claim that they are protecting “commercially sensitive” secrets, that conditions are changing too fast, or that assembling this data would be “too much work”.
“Aberdeen UCU wishes to break that silence. Our analysis of the available records suggests these claims do not add up. According to published data, and despite the challenging financial climate, we are still on track to earn a £2.8 million cash surplus in 2024 [1]. This is on top of a historic cash balance of £88.6 million (of which £36 million is set aside as an operating cash reserve) [2]. Comparative HESA data (from 2022) places our cash position comfortably in the mid-ranks of all UK universities [3]. Whilst it is undeniable that operating costs have increased and that income from both home and international students have marginally decreased, neither have collapsed to such a degree that staff must be dismissed.
“In November 2023 this comforting picture was suddenly redrawn. Without warning, 30 academics in Modern Languages were put at risk of redundancy. The same month, an extra £10 million pounds was stealthily set aside to encourage “hundreds” of staff to leave our university [4]. If the £10 million pound severance budget was all spent, up to 250 members of staff would be let go. Neither initiative to date has been properly explained by management.
“We would like to know why the University has not focused on fundraising, philanthropy and income regeneration over the last 5 years. Instead, the only focus has been on by betting the University’s future on a constantly increasing flow of international students. There are many questions about the wisdom of “putting all our eggs in one basket”. AUCU also has serious, unanswered questions about how registration and recruitment has been coordinated with a plethora of private agencies perhaps threatening our income base. Moreover, we believe that in seeking “growth” managers have dropped the ball in relation to our core mission of teaching and research “in the service of others”. Our campaign has demonstrated that this concern is widely shared beyond the University in the Scottish Parliament with MSPs of all parties, EU consulates, and the signatories of a record-breaking petition.
“AUCU calls on everyone – staff, students, alumni, prospective students, parents, local authority councillors, Members of the Scottish Parliament and Members of the UK Parliament, and the general public – to write to the University Court to ask that they break the silence and for management to come clean about its priorities. “
1) University of Aberdeen. November 2023 MMR Income and Expenditure Account Underlying Forecast page 7
2) University of Aberdeen. University Court. 2023.06.21 University Budget 2023/24 to 2025/26 page 20.
3) HESA 2023 Higher Education Statistics Agency. Other Financial Statements. https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and analysis/finances/statements. The same data are presented as a graph on this link. cash days 31 July 2022.png
4) University of Aberdeen. October 2023 MMR Income and Expenditure Account Underlying Forecast page 7.
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