The University of Aberdeen has announced a £10 million savings programme that could result in the loss of up to 111 jobs as it seeks to improve its financial position and return to a balanced budget by 2028.
The university’s governing body, known as the university court, said the institution faces a “stark” financial challenge and warned that decisive action is required to secure its long-term future.
Under the proposals, staff numbers will be reduced primarily through voluntary measures, including enhanced retirement and voluntary severance schemes due to launch next week.
However, university leaders acknowledged that compulsory redundancies could not be completely ruled out, although they would remain a last resort.
In a message sent to staff, interim senior governor Gary McRae and vice-chancellor Peter Edwards said future staffing budgets would be shaped by student-to-staff ratios.
“Based on current indicative modelling, the papers presented to court showed that the total reduction in our academic workforce could be up to 111 full-time equivalent.
“Importantly, however, the focus of the decision made by court was to reduce our costs, not to reduce our workforce by a specific number.”
Despite forecasting a £4 million surplus by the end of the current financial year, university leaders said the result was heavily dependent on temporary savings and one-off income streams.
They warned these measures “mask the underlying structural deficit” and cannot be relied upon in future years.
Professor Edwards said Scottish higher education institutions are facing increasing financial pressures.
“Scottish universities have never been more challenged,” he said.
“Decisive action is needed to protect the future of our university and allow us to return to a more stable footing to grow and succeed in a way that meets the needs of the communities we serve.”
The announcement has drawn criticism from the University and College Union, which described the proposals as devastating for staff.
Dan Cutts said the union would oppose the cuts.
“There’s other things that can be done, but it seems that yet again the easiest thing that they can do is just to cut staff,” he said.
“We’re a regional university, we serve our community.”
“Staff have been working so hard to the point we have achieved surplus, but yet we are being punished yet again. It is just unacceptable.”
The latest proposals follow industrial action earlier this year, when union members staged strikes over planned job reductions. Similar disputes have also emerged at several universities across Scotland as institutions grapple with rising costs and financial uncertainty.