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Islington Tribune - by TOM FOOT
Published: 30 January 2009

Demonstrators outside the university building in Holloway Road

Campus cash crisis threat to ‘arty subjects’

Fears for whole departments spark staff and students’ protest over job cuts

ENTIRE teaching departments could be axed at crisis-torn London Metropolitan University as under-fire bosses negotiate with unions over the loss of hundreds of staff jobs.
An academic source at the Holloway Road campus told the Tribune of fears that the history department could be the first to go following crunch talks over ways to pay back a massive £38million “debt” owed to the government.
Governors insist they must axe at least 330 jobs after auditors ordered the money be repaid after discovering inaccurate funding claims dating back to 2005.
“The word is that some of the more arty subjects – the kind of thing not normally associated with London Met – will be shut down,” the source said. “People are expecting the history department to go first. There are some subjects with courses that are not so well attended and do not necessarily have clear pathways to jobs on completion. But these are nevertheless important. Studying at university should not simply be about getting people into work.”
Staff and students demonstrated outside the Tower Building in Holloway Road on Wednesday as the board of governors met to discuss plans to axe up to 500 academic and other posts.
They are calling for a public inquiry after an audit by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) found discrepancies in the number of students who had completed courses.
The “incorrect data” meant there had been “substantial overfunding” of London Met since 2005 and the HEFCE is attempting to claw back the massive deficit.
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP for Islington North, has put down an Early Day Motion urging the university’s management to “emulate the conduct of other London higher education institutions facing funding cuts by reversing the current policy of cutting staffing and committing themselves to a thorough exploration of all potential non-staff savings through meaningful consultation with staff and campus unions.”
At the demonstration on Wednesday, Barry Jones, regional officer of the University Colleges Union, called for a “clear plan of action” on the proposed job cuts.
London Met traditionally takes in students from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who have not excelled at A-levels. For many of its 34,000 students, the university is one of their routes into higher education and beyond.
Mr Jones said: “London Met plays an important role in the London community. It gives many students a shot at higher education who may not otherwise get a chance. The management must take responsibility for its actions – but the time will come for that later. Right now we must be thinking about the staff.”
Sally Hunt, general secretary of UCU, has called on university governors to stall making redundancies for at least 90 days and to release a “viable recovery plan for... rescuing the university from its current decline”.
The reason for what the university is describing as “financial mismanagement” remains unclear. Union chiefs said it was “more likely to be cock-up than conspiracy”.
But outside the university entrance students and staff were calling for the departure of London Met chief executive Brian Roper.
The university did not respond to an invitation to comment.

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