UCU condemns London Met for 'cruel joke' on staff

The union has learned that university managers are being told to use student completion rates as one of the criteria to decide which staff will face the axe.
 
LMU plans to axe at least 550 posts, which equates to 800 staff actually at risk (one quarter of the workforce), after it was hit by funding cuts and repayment demands totalling £36million following inaccurate reporting of the number of students finishing courses. Under the redundancy plans lecturers with the most dropouts are more at risk of losing their jobs.

'The situation at London Met seems to be going from bad to worse... The university appears to have learnt nothing from its previous mistakes.'
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt

With job losses planned for this summer and next, the union warned today that the university risks being accused of implementing a scheme where lecturers who pass more students will be less likely to lose their jobs. The union added that considering false completion rates are what landed the institution in such a mess, it should be very careful about how it behaves.
 
In May MPs suggested that a level of collusion between London Metropolitan University (LMU) and the funding body (HEFCE) allowed the falsified records to pass without proper scrutiny.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'The situation at London Met seems to be going from bad to worse.  Management shouldn't be looking to get rid of staff who have the highest number of students dropping out. The university appears to have learnt nothing from its previous mistakes.
 
'The proposed job cuts would be a disaster for students and the local area and these latest revelations are a further damaging blow to the institution's already damaged reputation. There are all sorts of reasons why students do not complete their studies, but putting undue pressure on staff to pass students makes a mockery of higher education.'
 
LMU has over 34,000 students and is the largest university in the capital. It has a proven track record when it comes to widening participation and has been at the forefront of the government's strategy to open up university to more students from 'non-traditional' backgrounds.

London Metropolitan University – a pioneer for widening participation:

• 97.3% of LMU students come from state schools or colleges (31st highest in the UK)
• 42.9% come from lower social economic groups (26th highest in the UK)
• 51.9% of students at LMU are mature students (5th highest in the UK)