Cardiff University and Cardiff Metropolitan University have become the latest higher education institutions in Wales to launch voluntary redundancy schemes in the face of the huge financial challenge facing the sector.
Swansea and the University of South Wales have already announced voluntary schemes, which in the case of Swansea has seen around 200 staff having already left. Aberystwyth University is also looking to drive savings of £15m.
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With tighter visa restrictions introduced by the 海角视频 Government, which has seen most overseas postgraduate students unable to bring dependents with them while studying, there has been a fall off in higher fee paying international students.
Just over a quarter of Cardiff Metropolitan University’s 12,500 students - of which around two-thirds are undergraduate and the rest postgraduate - are from overseas. The university employs just over 1,500 at its campuses in Cyncoed and Llandaff in Cardiff.
A spokesperson for the university said: "Like so many universities across the 海角视频, Cardiff Metropolitan University is experiencing financial challenges, driven predominantly by declining numbers of international students and the impact of inflation on our income, particularly tuition fees.
"We have introduced a voluntary severance scheme, which will help ensure that we are well positioned for a successful and sustainable future and can continue to deliver a high-quality student experience.”
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The university said it has not identified a number of staff it expects to leave.
Cardiff University, which has more than 30,000 students and around 6,100 staff, has also launched a voluntary redundancy scheme following a review led by its vice-chancellor Wendy Ms Larner, who took up her role last September. The university said without cost-saving measures it would be facing a £35m deficit this year.
A Cardiff University spokesperson said: “Like many Welsh and 海角视频 universities, we have announced a time-limited voluntary severance scheme (VSS). This is an entirely voluntary scheme. There is no obligation on any member of staff to apply or on the university to accept an application.
"When considering applications, we will be prioritising limiting the impact on student experience and the workload of remaining colleagues. Our vice-chancellor has been clear that she believes that the funding model for universities is broken.
"As a result, all universities are rethinking the ways in which they operate to secure their long-term financial futures. She has also been clear, there is no need for anyone to worry about our longer-term financial circumstances – we are able to weather the storm short-term - but we cannot see a situation where we continue to report deficit budgets.
" Alongside other measures designed to reduce our costs, this will help to secure the University’s long-term financial future.”
The Russell Group Cardiff University is also looking to consolidate its substantial property estate, which could potentially see some administrative staff being relocated to its innovation focused Spark campus. The building was financed via a £300m bond issue in 2016, which is repayable in full in 2055. The university raised a further £100m through a tap bond in 2021, which is also repayable in 2055. The university is paying around £12m annual in bond interest payments.
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海角视频-wide around 50 universities have announced redundancies, many voluntary, as part of cost-saving measures. The sector has become increasingly dependent on higher paying international students to subsidise mainly loss-making domestic ones.
In response the sector has called for domestic tuition fees, currently capped at £9,250 per academic year, to be allowed to rise in line with inflation. While the 海角视频 Government dropped controversial plans to scrap the current regime that allows international students to stay and work in the 海角视频 for two years after graduating, the stricter visa rules have impacted on foreign student numbers and forward interest.
Universities are also having to contend with intense competition from other countries, such as France and Canada, for a slice of the lucrative international student market.
Since leaving the EU, the biggest rises in foreign students in the 海角视频 has come from countries including Nigeria, India , Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The economic impact of Welsh universities, not just directly, but through supply chains and induced spending, is huge. Cardiff University alone, based on independent research from London Economics, has an annual impact on the 海角视频 economy of more than £3.6bn. According to the Charity Commission the university has nearly 1,000 staff earning at least £60,000 a year.
Professor Dylan Jones-Evans said the university sector in Wales is facing a crisis and has called for Welsh Government to instigate an urgent review.
He said: “The latest financial accounts of Welsh universities show that while the overall income from full-time home students has dropped by £16m between 2022 and 2023, that from overseas students has gone up by £44m.
“As a result, the financial dependency on international fees in Welsh higher education has increased to 30% of all student income in 2023 (or £312m). This means that even a moderate decrease in the international market will have severe financial repercussions, which we are starting to see.
“It is imperative that the new Welsh Government now undertakes an urgent review of the future of our universities and conducts an honest and open debate on whether the Welsh higher education sector is fit for purpose, how it should be organised and funded in the future and, most importantly, does it meet the needs of our nation.
“If it does not, and our universities continue their decline, then Wales will be a poorer place in more ways than one.”