Ulster University job cuts slammed by UCU

The University and College Union (UCU) has issued a damning verdict on Ulster University’s brutal decision to axe 450 jobs. The union represents over 120,000 staff across further education institutions in Britain and Ireland. In a statement, they said:

The shocking announcement to cut 450 jobs at Ulster University is unprecedented and represents a direct threat to the quality of education, respect for staff, desires and ambitions of students and the long-term future of our institution.

Staff already work under sustained pressure, with rising workloads and impossible demands. Imposing redundancies on this scale is deeply alarming and unsustainable. Removing hundreds of staff will fundamentally damage the student experience and weaken academic provision.

Our members deserve full transparency, genuine consultation, in line with legal obligations, as well as the opportunity to challenge the assumptions underpinning these decisions. Any process that falls short of this will be robustly contested and our members will not be afraid to take action to challenge these decisions.

Staff at Ulster University also strongly criticised the decision, with lecturer Aisling O’Beirn highlighting the “wider societal consequences”. She pointed out how the sackings will “pull income out of the economy” and:

…restrict people’s access to education, which is so important in a post-conflict society…

Ulster University’s dysfunctional higher education funding approach backfires again

The university claimed that:

Redundancies across the higher education sector have become unavoidable.

They went on to cite the “more than 100 institutions across the UK” that have reduced staffing levels. Ulster University went on to suggest that:

…a sustainable funding model is not going to be forthcoming, and regretfully, we must now act to reduce our costs.

Ulster University had been seeking permission to raise tuition fees by over £1,000 per year. This would have forced students to bear a cost of £5,831 every 12 months. Minister for the economy Caoimhe Archibald rejected the request in May 2025. In the Six Counties, universities also receive funding from Stormont via block grants. The squeezed education budget has left a shortfall in money going to universities.

Setting of students fees in the north of Ireland is devolved to Stormont, which has chosen to set them at a lower level than the 2025/26 cap of £9,535 Labour allow in England. Scotland and Germany seem to actually value higher education, where the state will largely cover payment of fees for most students.

Universities in the Six Counties rely heavily on the whopping fees they are entitled to charge international students, who are typically expected to pay around £17,000 per year. However, multiple changes by successive Westminster governments racing to the bottom on immigration have deterred such students from coming.

Changes made by the Tories in January 2024 ensured that:

…international students on a postgraduate taught course, such as a master’s degree, have not been permitted to bring their partner and minor children with them to the UK.

International students pushed out by immigration hysteria

Labour have gone ahead with plans that mean students need to prove they have £1,171 per month to support themselves with. In 2027, the post-study work visa duration will go from 24 months to 18.

A sensible model for funding higher education might look like the following: provide sufficient state funding to ensure that all residents of Britain and the north of Ireland who wish to can attend university, without becoming massively indebted. Have appealing rules for international students that attract the best minds to our universities.

This way, you get a well-educated home-grown population, and the brightest people from around the world, who then go on to build a world class economy.

Alternatively, you can wreck higher education by going out of your way to pander to the prejudices of a privately educated, ex-investment banker who wants to fool the public into thinking all societal malaise is the result of immigration. Then proceed to watch your dysfunctional nation slide further into the doldrums.

Of course, the north of Ireland can’t dictate its own immigration rules as these powers are not devolved. Thus we have a sclerotic arrangement that prevents potentially joined-up thinking on issues like this, when Britain maintains its course of self-sabotage.

The UCU condemned the Ulster University job cuts along similar lines, saying:

This announcement indicates a complete lack of a clear strategic vision for sustainable growth and development. At a time when universities should be expanding opportunity, investing in innovation, and strengthening their regional impact, large-scale redundancies signal regression, rather than progression.

They pledged to fight on, declaring that:

UCU will defend our members, challenge all unjustified job losses, and will robustly hold the university and government to account. We stand ready to engage, but we will not stand idly by and let our university flounder through government or university neglect.

Featured image via the Canary