Arts and humanities bear brunt of University of East Anglia cuts

The University of East Anglia (UEA) is axing more than 110 jobs, with the majority of academic redundancies coming from the arts and humanities.

The university announced plans in January for staff and departmental budget cuts to address a £13.9m budget deficit.

It has now confirmed the extent of the cuts, with 113 staff set to be made redundant – a total of 77 in professional services and 36 academic staff.

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Writing on social media, academics at UEA have said that 31 out of the 36 academic redundancies are to come from the arts and humanities department.

Commenting on the decision, Will Rossiter, Associate Professor in UEA's School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing, tweeted: “It’s a good job UEA is not primarily renowned and internationally celebrated for its work in arts and humanities, otherwise this would look like one of the most profound acts of institutional self-harm on record.”

A UEA spokesperson said that “to secure UEA’s future financial stability" it needed to make savings of £30m by September.

“As part of the wider cost saving plans, the University is proposing to reduce staff numbers by a total of 113 staff in addition to those leaving through voluntary severance," the spokesperson said.

“We are looking at proposed staff reductions of 77 staff in professional services and faculty professional services and 36 proposed staff reductions in faculties.”

The spokesperson added that the staff reductions would be achieved “through a targeted voluntary redundancy scheme and redeployment opportunities" and that compulsory redundancies “remain a last resort”.

Financial sustainability

UEA has blamed increased energy costs, falling student numbers and the tuition fee freeze for its financial situation – challenges that many universities are facing.

The university's previous Vice-Chancellor David Richardson resigned with immediate effect in February shortly after UEA's financial situation was revealed.

He was replaced in March by former University of Greenwich vice-chancellor David Maguire, who was met with staff protests on his first day at the university.

Maguire has said a "period of correction" is required to get the university "back on the path to financial sustainability".

Responding to the latest UEA announcement, the University and College Union (UCU) branch at UEA said on Twitter it was a “tragic day as management finally disclose their plans for academic staff redundancies at UEA”.

Academics at other institutions have also been expressing their dismay at the proposed redundancies.

Greg Walker, Regius Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature at The University of Edinburgh, tweeted that UEA's “Arts and Humanities, not least its brilliant English Literature and Creative Writing teams, have made it a beacon institution in the UK."

He added: “Focusing the cuts there looks crazy. Can you scapegoat a golden goose? It looks like they’re trying.”