UCLan to slash 165 jobs in wake of ‘unprecedented financial challenges’

The University of Central Lancashire is to slash 165 jobs in a bid to save money.

About 5% of the 3,300 staff will go as the Preston university.

The university has launched a voluntary redundancy scheme for academic and professional services employees.

Challenges to the finances of all higher education institutions means the University of Central Lancashire will reshape how it works and reduce the amount of people it employs by around 5%.

The University said that ‘due to the unprecedented financial challenge facing the entire higher education sector, they were taking decisive action now to reduce its costs and reshape the way it delivers world-leading education and research.’

The largest university in Lancashire contributes more than £200 million to the North West economy every year but has not been immune to declines in international student recruitment following Government changes to visa requirements and the UK tuition fee being frozen for a decade, with rampant inflation eroding its real value. To be fit for the future, the university is now in the process of reviewing its costs for the academic year 2024/25 to ensure expenditure is in line with income.

The university is a major employer in the region and currently spends 60% of its income on a staff community made up of around 3,300 people.

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Central Lancashire, Professor Graham Baldwin, said: “At a time when income is static and our expenditure is growing, we need to start reducing our costs as well as balancing developing areas of growth and investing in areas that attract students to study with us.

"We know this is a concerning time for our staff and we have support systems in place during this difficult time. As ever our continued priority is our students and giving them a great university experience"

“Whilst it is important that we reduce our costs and our staff base over the coming months, it is also important to remember that we remain a strong performing university delivering quality teaching to thousands of students. We remain a large employer in the region but we must embrace change by thinking and delivering differently.”

 “The Higher Education sector is facing unprecedented financial challenges and we need to proactively respond in order to be more agile and able to deal with the pace of change impacting the sector today and into the future. We know this is a concerning time for our staff and we have support systems in place during this difficult time. As ever our continued priority is our students and giving them a great university experience.”