Academics at Newcastle University have voted to take industrial action amid £30m in cuts and the institution’s inability to rule out compulsory job losses.
The University and College Union has announced a successful ballot for industrial action at its Newcastle chapter. According to the union, 83% of balloted members voted in favour of a strike, with 88% stating they would be willing to take action short of a strike.
Tensions between the union and management have been evident since September 2024, when a £35m blackhole was reported in the University’s coffers. The tens-of-millions drop in income was largely attributed to a decline in the number of international students, a common feature of university finances across the UK.
The £35m shortfall was initially combated by mitigations, £15m of which had already been built into the budget, including recruitment freezes, a review into building projects, and squeezed travel budgets. By October 2024, Newcastle University had also paused academic job promotions, cancelled pay reviews, and launched a voluntary severance scheme.
As the threat of strike action loomed over the University, bosses went on to sign off £30m in savings, including £20m from the salary budget (equivalent to 300 full time jobs), and stated that despite the expanded voluntary severance scheme, could not rule out mandatory job losses. The UCU has been balloting members since 20 January, 2025, calling for action.
Matt Perry, chair of Newcastle University UCU, said: “Higher Education is facing an unprecedented crisis and it is clear that the high-tuition-fee funding model for UK Higher Education is fundamentally broken – a model which has been championed by our own university’s leaders. It has never been more important that we campaign together for a new funding model which sees HE as an indispensable public good, not a free market.
“There are huge amounts of anger amongst staff and students about job losses and course closures. Ballots for action are occurring up and down the country. Dundee, Brunel, Kent, Sheffield, Cardiff, Newcastle, Sheffield Hallam: the resistance is spreading. Job losses should be a red line for every branch.”
Cardiff University announced plans to cut 400 full time jobs alongside the potential closure or merging of modern languages, nursing, and music courses.
The UCU has also consistently hit out against the government over how higher education in the UK is funded, with the Newcastle University UCU branch secretary Dr David Bates dubbing the system “broken”. The UCU has also launched a campaign, ‘Reclaim Higher Education’, calling for an end to tuition and for longer-term funding for all subjections and types of higher education organisations.
Uni chiefs have also come under fire after vice-chancellor Prof Chris Day, talking at a conference abroad, announced the institution was exploring opening a campus in India.
A Newcastle University spokesperson said: “We are not immune to the challenges currently affecting the UK higher education sector and like many universities, we are implementing a range of cost-saving measures to ensure we remain in a sound financial position. We want to work constructively with our unions to build a more sustainable future for universities while supporting our colleagues throughout this challenging time.”
