Cardiff University is cutting jobs as it struggles to tackle a £21m operating deficit in the face of funding cuts and rising costs.
It has offered all 7,000 staff voluntary severance but is not ruling out compulsory redundancies.
A university spokesman said it was unusual for a university to run at a deficit but in 2017-18 Cardiff has faced funding cuts of £11m, no increase in tuition fees for six years, lower growth in research income and increased staff costs.
In joint-statement the Cardiff University branches of Unite, Unison, and UCU accused the university of mismanagement and warned although staff morale is at rock bottom they would fight any compulsory job losses.
The university outlined its cost cutting plans, called Transforming Cardiff, in a video message emailed to all staff and since put on Youtube.
Watch the video message below
In it, the university says it faces an operating deficit of £21m in 2017-18 which it aims to turn into a surplus.
It also accuses the Welsh Government of putting Welsh universities at a disadvantage compared with those across the border because it stopped them increasing tuition fees to £9,250 - a move it says cost Cardiff alone £5m per cohort.
But the main budget squeeze has come from funding cuts from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), it adds.
“Just before the start of this financial year we had our grant funding from HEFCW cut by £14m, subsequently revised to £11m but with a forecast of £6m scheduled for next year.”
Cardiff, which has 30,000 students, added in the video statement that it had lost millions by not being able to up tuition fees as English institutions had been allowed.
“Fees have not increased for the last six years...We have also been put at a disadvantage to English Universities by not being allowed by the Welsh Government to increase fees to £9,250 let alone the £9.295 promised. An increase to £9,250 would have brought in an extra £5m per cohort.
“Our research income has not grown as fast as other universities. Research income is not growing as fast as awards forecast.”
With staff costs rising the university is now looking to reduce the proportion of income spent on staff costs from the current 59% to around 54%.
In joint-statement the Cardiff University branches of Unite, Unison, and UCU said:
"We are astonished that Cardiff University staff are facing their third voluntary severance scheme in six years, and we are very worried that the Vice Chancellor still refuses to rule out further compulsory redundancies.
“We are also gravely concerned that the proposed severance scheme will cause inequality and division among our already demoralised members. The criteria being used to decide the size of pay-outs mean that lump sums will vary in entirely arbitrary ways. We believe those who take up the offer of voluntary severance should all be treated equally.
“We are in this situation because of continued mismanagement at the highest level. Only last year we were told that the University’s budget deficit was predicted and manageable, but now our jobs are on the line yet again.
“When a football manager performs this badly they either resign or get the sack, but Cardiff University managers seem to be immune from this kind of accountability. For them, laying off staff has become a reflex reaction, rather than an option of last resort.
“Morale among our members is already at rock bottom because of stagnating wages, unmanageable workloads, attacks on pensions, and continued investment in shiny new buildings instead of staff.
“The only thing which changed the vice chancellor’s mind over this year’s proposed pension raid was concerted industrial action. The looming threat of compulsory redundancies is a major worry for all three campus trade unions and we are all now consulting our members so we can unite in defence of our jobs should the need arise.”
A Cardiff University spokesman said the University’s governing body, Council, is aware and has approved a deficit budget for the next financial year 2018/19 but with a target to deliver surpluses again from 2019/20,
He said management has been transparent with staff and the trade unions.
“Cardiff University is financially stable but like the rest of the sector, is operating in a time of unprecedented disruption and financial constraint.
“Whilst there are no specific plans for compulsory job loses they cannot be ruled out.
“We are developing proposals through our Transforming Cardiff programme to lay before University Council for consideration in the New Year. A reshaped University will be better prepared to face any challenges ahead.
“We are and will be working with the trade unions to ensure that we have their input as proposals are developed, and once full proposals are agreed by Council, they will be widely disseminated for meaningful consultation with all those involved.
“It’s very important that any proposals we put forward in order to meet the challenges are robust, fair and workable.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “As autonomous institutions, responsibility for staffing matters rests with a university’s governing body. Direct funding to support and attract part-time and post-graduate students is only available in Wales as a result of Welsh Government policy decisions and investment.
"We are already seeing significant increases in student numbers, and this can only be of benefit to individual students, our communities and our universities. “The funding that the Welsh Government provides to HEFCW is not ring fenced.
"The Council has discretion to determine the distribution of funding allocated to it by the Welsh Government. It is a matter for HEFCW to determine how resources are allocated in line with Government priorities which are set out in the Education Secretary’s annual remit letter.”
