What is happening at Leicester?

Many UK universities are in financial difficulty, and Leicester is no exception. Leicester's cash reserves have fallen from being able to cover 122 days of normal operation in 2020/21 to just 33 days in 2024. They are using this precarious position to justify making an £11m cut to the staffing budget.

However, until 2023-24 the University has posted an operating surplus every year - so where have the cash reserves gone? Why are we unable to weather this situation? Convincing answers to these questions are not forthcoming from the management. They talk about this financial position as if they have not been in charge of the finances for the last 6 years.

The University intends to make this £11m saving by reducing staffing costs. Staffing is the largest part of the University’s expenditure, adding up to 56.6% of the total in 2023/24. Their goal is to reduce these costs to 53% of the total by 2030; to achieve this they are now targeting staff in the following departments: Chemistry; Education; Film Studies; Geography, Geology and the Environment; History; and Modern Languages.

They are targeting the academics and professional services staff that actually do the work - teaching and research - and not any of their friends in the bloated executive structure. Not the people who have led us to this financial position.

We are paying the price for their incompetence.

All of these departments have outstanding external reputations - and in most cases a national ranking that is better than the university average. They were told that the reason they had been part of this 'strategic review' was due to low financial contributions - but these were calculated excluding vast amounts of income from research and transnational education. Then it was 'clarified' that the reason was low student numbers. Since the review, a number of these departments have experienced a record student recruitment - so the goalposts have shifted again. Now the 'strategic review' is all about 'research alignment'.

It has been clear from the start that this process has not been seriously thought through.

We had a similar exercise to this in 2021, where the university was 'Shaped for Excellence' and assured that we would not end up facing staff redundancies again. Yet here we are.

Which departments will be targeted next?

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