Planned Cuts
· 115 planned staff redundancies total
· Losses in the schools of Life Sciences, Informatics, English, Engineering & Design, Informatics, the Centre for Continuing Education, and History
· Redundancies or reduced staffing levels in the Library, IT Services, lab technicians, portering and catering.
· Closure of Unisex, the sexual health and drug/alcohol awareness service
· Redundancy for 11 out of 16 of the university’s student advisers
· Closure of the subsidised childcare service
· Closure of InQbate, a pioneering high-tech learning space
· A 5% cut in Union funding
· Further cuts planned in early 2010
Management’s official stance is that the cuts are necessary for ‘sustainability.’ They talk of improving student experience while simultaneously slashing vital services that students need. They want to bring in more international students (who pay considerably more in tuition) but make no mention of providing them with adequate support. University management have not consulted with students or staff about these cuts, nor have they adequately researched alternatives to massive staff redundancies and student service cuts.
After USSU President Tom Wills sent a mass email to Sussex students opposing the cuts, the university responded by booking up every single lecture hall until Christmas for ‘equipment checks.’ The Students’ Union released a statement about the ‘equipment checks,’ encouraging students to contact the Registrar & Secretary.
There are Facebook groups for the departments facing closure, and the Stop the Cuts campaign encourages students to mobilise on a departmental and school level in addition to joining the national opposition to proposed cuts at universities all over the UK. It is not just Sussex that is in danger, but the entire higher education system. The government, having spent millions bailing out failing businesses, is pressuring university administrations to adhere to its plan to slash arts and humanities and to follow a more business-centred model, which will have disastrous effects on education in the UK.
Further information:
UCU (University and College Union) Sussex
Sussex Stop the Cuts Facebook Group
Email or subscribe to the announcements list at
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/sussex-stopthecuts
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Times Higher Education – Sussex’s future: fewer staff, more students
I remember Simon Fanshawe when he used to do ropey film reviews for meridian TV. How did he end up, in his words, ‘[steering] the process of, and Council’s role in, creating the University’s strategy to 2015′?
Here is his website comment:
http://www.simonfanshawe.com/wp/?page_id=11
Email him, he’s obviously the guy in the know!