Students at Goldsmiths, University of London have occupied the institution’s library in support of staff whose jobs are at risk.

The university announced in April plans to make cuts of £22 million by the end of the 2026-27 academic year.

At the time, the institution’s acting vice-chancellor, David Oswell, said these were necessary to address “structural financial deficits”.

Staff have been told to expect further announcements about job cuts, prompting union members to vote in favour of strike action.

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Goldsmiths staff have faced several rounds of cuts in recent years, including a voluntary severance scheme announced in May 2025, as well as redundancies and course closures in 2024.

The students – who have launched a “Free Goldsmiths” campaign – are asking for “immediate widespread transparency” about the latest redundancy plans and the state of the university’s finances. They also demand that university leaders rule out compulsory redundancies, course closures and mergers.

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The group told Times Higher Education that they plan to stay in the library until they are forced out, with the aim of remaining until at least the start of the university’s summer term next week, “to try to draw as much awareness as possible”.

In addition to seeking the “dissolution of [the university] council in its current form”, the group called for wider reforms to the higher education system, including “a reimagining of the funding model” to “prevent the university from rehashing and reviving the plans in further academic years”.

The students said in a statement: “We situate ourselves amongst the long history of Goldsmiths Student Occupations. We are far from the first to utilise the event of an occupation; to demand collective control over the spaces ostensibly for learning and the production of knowledge, and to allow the communities these spaces are supposed to serve to reclaim autonomy over them.

“In so doing, we invite new potentialities and new possibilities to open up through our collective action.”

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A Goldsmiths University and College Union (UCU) spokesperson said that the university had shown “total disdain” for students by failing to communicate with them about the planned cuts, and stated that the branch supports the students’ actions.

“The students currently occupying Goldsmiths library under the banner of ‘Free Goldsmiths’ are a necessary and timely reminder that it is students and staff who make the institution what it is; whilst it is the executive board’s financial mismanagement that has led to millions of pounds of student fees being siphoned off to consultants and lawyers, to the tune of more than £16 million since 2019,” they told ɫ��ֱ��.

“Goldsmiths UCU stands in full solidarity with the occupation and all of their demands.”

The university has been approached for comment.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com