Birkbeck University threatens to sack 140 staff

The university claims it needs to make the cuts to fill a multi-million pound deficit caused by a fall in student numbers. UCU vowed to fight the cuts, which it said are a disaster for students and the university, and is threatening potential industrial action.

Birkbeck emailed all staff this month confirming plans to sack 84 academic and 56 administrative staff by July 2023. The cuts would see up to 11 staff in the department of English, theatre and creative writing be axed alongside up to 10 in geography; up to seven in politics; up to seven in film, media and cultural studies; up to six in philosophy; and up to six in language, cultures and applied linguistics.

Last Friday, Birkbeck's local UCU branch overwhelmingly voted for a motion of no confidence in the senior leadership team and to move towards an industrial dispute. A similar motion is also being put to Birkbeck's Unison members this week, who are largely administrative staff.

Birkbeck markets itself as 'London's evening university' and claims it 'stands out for its contribution to social mobility and lifelong learning'. The two hundred year-old institution has a history of radical teaching and former staff include Nicholas Pevsner, Eric Hobsbawm, Rosalind Franklin and J.D. Bernal, as well as several Nobel laureates.

UCU Birkbeck branch president Mike Berlin said: 'We will not allow hard working staff to lose their jobs because of mistakes by senior management. Birbeck's cuts, which do not include any plans for recovery and growth, are a recipe for managed decline. Birkbeck has a proud history of reaching students who otherwise would not enter higher education. Sacking 140 staff, including up to one in four teaching staff, threatens to trash that history. The cuts would severely harm student learning and jeopardise the university's commitment to social mobility and lifelong learning. We urge management to rethink its knee jerk job cuts and instead work with us to look at how we can attract more students. If the university refuses to do so we will have no option other than to begin taking steps for an industrial ballot.'