Cardiff University Plans to Cut 400 Jobs and Close Degree Courses

Graduates gather at Cambridge University England on Oct. 23, 2010. Paul Hackett/File Photo/Reuters

Cardiff University has announced it is considering cutting 400 full-time academic jobs and closing several courses, amid ongoing financial pressures.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Wendy Larner said on Tuesday that Cardiff aims to create a “slightly smaller university” in a bid to secure the institution’s long-term future.

Some courses which could be closed include ancient history, music, nursing, modern languages, and theology.

Cardiff, a member of the Russell Group representing 24 leading universities in the UK, is also looking to merge some academic departments, as well as increasing student and staff ratios.

The university said compulsory redundancy would only be used “if absolutely necessary.”

Announcing the plans, Larner said: “The precarious financial position of many universities, particularly in the context of declining international student applications and increasing cost pressures, and the need to adapt to survive are well documented.

“We know here at Cardiff University that it is no longer an option for us to continue as we are.”

The proposals are subject to a consultation lasting 90 days, with final plans for approval being considered by the University Council in June 2025.

Durham to Cut Staff

Also on Tuesday, fellow Russell Group member Durham University said it was looking to reduce staff costs by £10 million—around 200 staff—in this academic year.

It comes after the university announced in November a series of in-year cost savings measures, including reducing energy use, delaying some planned capital expenditure, and operating a voluntary redundancy scheme.

Durham said that for the first time, it reported an operational deficit.

The university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Karen O'Brien, said that Durham “cannot fulfil our aims of remaining a world-class centre of research and education without a firmly established and sustainable financial base.”

“We appreciate today’s announcement will be concerning to staff. We are committed to working with our recognised trade unions and our staff in an open, transparent, and timely way to achieve the savings required,” O'Brien said.

Potential Mergers and Closures

The announcements come as universities face increasing financial pressures.

The universities regulator the Office for Students (OfS) said in November that as many as 72 percent of higher education institutions in England could be in deficit by academic year 2025/2026, with 40 percent having fewer than 30 days’ liquidity.

A June report from the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) think tank had also warned that in the future, universities dropping courses, merging with other institutions, and even failing could become common if the current funding trajectory remains the same.

A graduation ceremony at the University of Suffolk in Ipswich, England, on Oct. 19, 2015. Chris Radburn/PA Wire

Responding to the sector-wide challenges, the government tasked the OfS with focusing on monitoring the financial sustainability of higher education providers.

The Department for Education had reorientated the OfS’s strategic focus in July after an independent review—“Fit for Future: Higher Education Regulation Towards 2035”—had said that financial stability had become the most significant and growing challenge for universities.

Authors of the “Fit for Future” review had said that while it acknowledged universities’ concerns over rising costs and other factors, institutions would have to make trade-offs in order to remain viable.

These trade-offs could include reviewing their operating models and planning to deliver their services with more limited resources.

Adapt to Survive

HEPI had similarly said that in a scenario where funding is not increased, institutions will have to adapt.

Their report has said that some universities will continue to thrive and be “able to manage economies of scale and diversity of provision to make a compelling offer,” noting these would likely be institutions in receipt of donations and other philanthropic operations to support teaching and research.

Other universities could become more efficient, such as by using digital means to supplement face-to-face teaching and operating a narrower range of courses, but still offering “a compelling student experience.”

Cardiff suggested on Tuesday that it was exploring ways to adapt as it creates a “slightly smaller University,” which its vice-chancellor had said could be “refocused around our core and emerging strengths.”

Larner had also said her institution was working on a “new model for flexible lifelong learning, new opportunities in transnational education, and new approaches to learning and teaching.”