A jobs “permacrisis” in Scottish higher education is threatening to transform the sector before the results of a funding review can be published, unions have warned.

Institutions north of the border have announced a fresh wave of cutbacks in recent weeks, resulting in the closure of courses and other changes to provision, including higher staff-student ratios.

The universities of Dundee, Aberdeen, Glasgow Caledonian, Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde have all announced major cuts in quick succession, on top of long-running restructurings at the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Leaders say the changes are necessary to bring deficits down, with budgets continuing to be squeezed despite promises of additional funding from the Scottish government.

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A cross-party review that aims to “secure the future of universities for the next generation” has begun and is due to report in the autumn but academics have warned this may come too late, given the scale of change already under way.

At Aberdeen, staff have been told the university is considering halting recruitment to its postgraduate courses that consistently bring in fewer than six students and applying a 10-student minimum to undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

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Also being considered is an increase to the staff-student ratio of courses, rising to 25-to-one for social sciences and humanities subjects and 20-to-one for sciences and moving its 12 current schools into a four-faculty model.

Meanwhile, cuts at Heriot-Watt could see the closure of its German and Chinese courses, sparking concerns about education “coldspots” emerging in the country.

Dan Cutts, UCU chair at Aberdeen, told Times Higher Education that staff are “extremely stressed and anxious” about the proposed cuts, noting that “well over” 440 staff have left the university since 2023.

“We have over the last two years seen the targeting of modern languages, two rounds of voluntary severance, and now the ‘adapting for continued success plan’, which is the next phase in the permacrisis,” he said.

A University of Aberdeen spokesperson said: “The university is exploring a range of measures to help tackle its deficit, make it more resilient and create capacity for investment and growth. We’re consulting with staff and campus trade unions ahead of any decisions being taken by our university court in April.”

Mary Senior, Scotland official for the University and College Union (UCU), who sits on the review panel, agreed that the “sector is in crisis”, adding it “doesn’t bear thinking about” what would happen if all the proposed cuts went ahead. 

“For our members, their jobs are on the line and going, which is horrific for individuals and for local communities. So often universities are anchor institutions that are so pivotal in the local communities and economy, and certainly that’s true in places like Dundee and Glasgow Caledonian.”

She said the review needed to provide “sustainable public funding” for higher education, and that “we can’t just keep going from crisis to crisis”, with Scottish universities now receiving about 23 per cent less funding per student than their English counterparts, according to research by London Economics.

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At Dundee, the university has opened a new voluntary severance scheme, aiming to make a further 180 voluntary redundancies to save at least £10 million.

This would come on top of the loss of 500 full-time equivalent roles at the crisis-hit university since it discovered it faced a £35 million deficit.

The Scottish government has made £60 million available to rescue Dundee and there had been calls to place conditions on this money to prevent job cuts. Although compulsory redundancies have been restricted, voluntary schemes are allowed, with interim vice-chancellor Nigel Seaton insisting last year that cutting staffing costs was the only avenue open to the university to reduce expenditure with other running costs already “cut to the bone”.

Melissa D’Ascenzio, co-chair of Dundee’s UCU branch, said what was happening at the university showed the need for any further public money to come with “very, very clear strings attached”.

She said the total cuts at Dundee were close to reaching the levels proposed in its recovery plan which was previously rejected by the Scottish government “on the basis that it was proposing too many redundancies”. 

“At the moment, it doesn’t seem like any of the money that is coming into the university is actually saving any jobs,” D’Ascenzio said. “I do not think that an increase in funding without any serious governance reform will fix the problem.”

A spokesperson for Dundee said the funding from the Scottish Funding Council “is vital for ensuring the continued operations of the university in the short to medium term, and for avoiding insolvency, as we continue to work towards a position of financial stability and sustainability”.

“The additional funding is not recurrent, so even with this additional support we have to make further recurrent savings, which is why we have opened a voluntary severance scheme,” they added.

D’Ascenzio added that the government should consider introducing restrictions on what courses can be cut to prevent the “very real risk” that some of the measures taken – including cuts to languages at Aberdeen and Heriot-Watt – create “pockets where the higher education offering will be seriously, seriously lacking”. 

With the Scottish election coming up in May, Senior said higher education funding has not been high up the political agenda. “Higher education just isn’t featured as a priority issue, which is disappointing because our universities are so fundamental to the success of our economy, our society, and our public services.”

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juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com