More than 70 people face losing their jobs as Sunderland University makes redundancies

Sunderland University is expected to make dozens of staff redundant as it continues to struggle with funding challenges.

The University and Colleges Union (UCU) said 76 members of staff were being made redundant, including more than one in 10 academics.

About 60 out of 549 academics are expected to be affected according to the union.

The cuts will also impact professional services staff and will fall across the university.

It is believed that some staff could receive their redundancy as soon as Friday 1 November, meaning they would be unemployed going into the Christmas break.

This is the second formal notification of redundancies in less than six months.

Sunderland University says it has done "everything possible" to mitigate job losses and will work to support those impacted.

Jon Bryan, UCU regional support official, said: "The academic year has just started yet staff have returned to campus to learn they could be made redundant before Christmas.

"Cuts of this scale would severely damage student learning and harm the university's standing. We will now seek our members' views on how we fight back against these cuts, and the university could face a strike ballot unless it changes course and works with us to protect jobs."

It is the latest news in what has been a turbulent few months for the university after it said it would shut the National Glass Centre despite a big campaign to save the regionally significant institution.

In response a spokesperson from the University of Sunderland said: “As has been well documented, the Higher Education sector in the UK is facing considerable funding challenges.

"The freeze on home student fees, which have not risen in line with inflation, coupled with a decline in international student admissions, means that many institutions have been forced to make difficult decisions in recent months.

“Unfortunately, the University of Sunderland is not immune to these challenges. Since the start of the year, we have been critically assessing our expenditure to ensure we’re operating as efficiently as possible, while still maintaining an excellent student experience.

“Although we have done everything possible to mitigate job losses, a number of roles are impacted. We’re working closely with those affected to support them through the process.”

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