University of Sheffield: Bosses announce new round of voluntary redundancies
A second round of voluntary redundancies has been announced at the University of Sheffield.
Staff at the Russell Group institution were informed in an email on September 16 that leaders are looking for cuts in a bid to slash £23m from staffing costs over the next two years, according to the University and College Union.
Several of the courses up for cuts were already targeted for voluntary redundancies in 2024.
The list of courses included in this round of job cuts includes, but is not limited to:
- Management School
- Civil and Structural Engineering (targeted in 2024, previously ranked number one in the Russell Group by students for teaching)
- Materials Engineering (targeted in 2024, previously ranked number one in the Russell Group by students for teaching)
- Chemistry (ranked number 21 in UK by The Complete University Guide in 02025/26)
- East Asian Studies (targeted in 2024, best ranked university out of four in the UK that offer it)
- Medicine and Population Health
- English
- History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
- Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations
A spokesperson from the University of Sheffield, said: “A voluntary severance scheme (VSS) is being extended to these areas to help avoid the risk of compulsory redundancies in the future.
“We remain committed to our agreement with our Trade Unions that there will be no compulsory redundancies this calendar year and will work to avoid them wherever possible in future.
“We will continue to focus on providing an excellent experience for our students while positioning the niversity to thrive in a competitive and dynamic higher education environment.”
The spokesperson did not reply when what was the scale of savings the university hoped to achieve with the second round of cuts.
The red-brick institute reported a surplus of £6m in its 2023/24 report.
It comes after it came to light in September 2024 that the university attracted up to 2,200 less international students that year. At the time, staff were told in an online call that the university faced a potential loss of £50m without action.
Despite clear intentions to reduce costs within departments, the University of Sheffield says no schools or disciplines are being closed.
Its highly respected archaeology course was controversially shut in 2021 despite being ranked #6 in the world.