Reading University must be open about job axe plans says union

Worried staff have contacted the union over rumours sweeping the campus that Professor Gordon Marshall, Reading University vice-chancellor, has told some staff that a number of key departments, particularly in the sciences, could face the chop.

'Rumours of job losses and whole departments potentially being axed do nothing for the university's reputation, the staff or the students.'Sally HuntOn the day that the prime minister gave his clear support to science and said 'the downturn is no time to slow down our investment in science but to build more vigorously for the future', the union said that Reading had to come clean and start taking openly and honestly about its plans, and stamp out the widespread anxiety amongst its staff. Earlier this month the institution came under fire over plans to axe its School of Health and Social Care at a time when one in six social worker positions are unfilled and the department was making a profit. Reading University also controversially axed its award-winning physics department in November 2006.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'It is unacceptable for staff at any institution to be left in limbo when it comes to their futures. Reading University has a responsibility to its staff to let them know what is going on. Rumours of job losses and whole departments potentially being axed do nothing for the university's reputation, the staff or the students. We fully understand that some institutions are facing difficult times and that is why we are always available to work through those problems. The process needs to be an open and transparent one and Reading University needs to start that process immediately.'