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Job cuts plan denied by Hallam University
SHEFFIELD Hallam University is denying a claim by the main lecturers' union that it is planning to cut 340 teaching posts.
The estimate came from the University and College Union, which believes more than 15,000 jobs, mostly among academics, could disappear in the next few years as Government spending cuts bite.
The elite Russell Group of universities - of which The University of Sheffield is a member - is warning funding could be cut by 18 per cent over three years.
But a Hallam spokeswoman denied the university was planning any compulsory redundancies.
"The posts referred to by the union are associate lecturers who have not worked for the university for at least 18 months," she said.
"They are being removed from the university's books as part of a routine annual exercise undertaken in agreement with the trade unions."
A Sheffield spokeswoman said the university was currently reviewing its options and would decide on its next steps once details were received of its grant allocation in March.
The University of Sheffield has already gone through a job cutting process over the last six months to help bridge a 25million annual hole in its funding.
The UCU says more than 15,000 university posts could be axed over the next few years as a result of budget cuts, forcing institutions to ditch courses and close campuses.
It was announced last week that swingeing grant cuts would see budgets reduced by 449 million for 2010/11. Academics have already warned that could result in tens of thousands of would-be students missing out on university places.
Another survey of vice-chancellors and other senior staff at 25 universities found plans ready for closing campus doors, jettisoning certain classes and using post-graduates rather than professors for teaching.
Some of those consulted described the funding cuts as 'painful' and 'insidious'.
Sally Hunt, UCU general secretary, said: "You cannot make savage funding cuts without serious consequences."
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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