KU axes courses

Kingston University has announced proposals to close the Humanities Department, and end at least nine courses, which it says will make up £10million of the £20million of cuts it announced in October.

On 19 February, the University told staff about plans to make between 20 and 99 staff redundant in the next 90 days, despite saying in November that no jobs would be lost as part of the restructure.

The University said that the proposed closures are in English, philosophy, criminology, sociology, international relations, joint fine art and art history and the humanities and sociology foundation year courses. This does not affect current students on these courses.

The Kingston University and College Union (KU UCU) told the River that redundancies will lead to a lower “staff-student ratio”.

“That inevitably means that each individual member of staff is faced with the choice of either doing more work for free (…) or cutting down the amount of time they spend with each student,” said John Miers, communications representative of the KU UCU.

Departments across the University have been told to cut costs, in some cases by ending optional modules within their courses.

Tiger, 26, a PHD philosophy student at KU, called the cuts “depressing” and “bleak”.

“A lot of us actually came to the department to study with these professors specifically. So we basically came to Kingston for nothing if these professors no longer work here.”

The £20 million of cuts are not making up a budget deficit, but a predicted budget shortfall.

Last year, KU ended the year with a £7 million budget surplus and has not yet made their calculations for the £20 million shortfall publicly available.

On 26 February the KU UCU passed a “motion to disagree” with the proposed cuts and redundancies, and wrote to the University to argue it has not met its legal duties to consult with staff about the cuts.

All employers have a legal obligation to begin “meaningful consultation,” with any staff affected by a proposed set of redundancies “at the formative stage,” according to British trade law.

The KU UCU argues that Kingston’s announcement of specific course closures, within which they told staff “all substantive staff employed in the department (…) are considered ‘at risk’ of redundancy,” means it has failed to meet those legal obligations.

In its letter, the KU UCU said: “A lawful consultation requires that there is still genuine opportunity to influence the outcome. The fixed nature of the proposed course closures and staffing reductions suggests that the consultation is perfunctory rather than substantive.”

At the same meeting, the KU UCU passed a vote of no confidence in the senior leadership team at Kingston.

These votes are the first steps in taking industrial action, which may include strike action.

John Miers said: “The University told us these course cuts make up only £10million of the £20million shortfall. If we let them do this this year, there will be at least the same coming again next year.”

Students have been invited to provide feedback as part of the consultations, should they wish to do so, by emailing the dedicated mailboxes at FBSSqueries@kingston.ac.uk and KSAqueries@kingston.ac.uk.

A Kingston University spokesperson said: “The University is continuing to deliver on the ambitions set out in our transformative Town House Strategy while operating within what remains a challenging national economic climate.   

“We are addressing the financial challenges being faced across the sector in a targeted, sustained way.  Central to this is our focus on ensuring we offer a demand-led course portfolio, reflecting the rapidly evolving needs of students and employers.”

“To be able to invest in and support areas of success and continue to enhance our students’ teaching and learning, it’s essential we achieve our savings targets over the next two years. These equate to approximately 8 per cent of turnover, equivalent to £20 million, by the end of the 2025-26 financial year.”

“We are not making reductions across all parts of the University. We are instead taking a considered, focused approach to achieving the savings we need to make so we can invest in areas of growth. Unlike many other institutions, we are starting from a strong financial base.”  

“By growing courses where there is increasing demand and withdrawing from others where this is no longer the case, we will achieve capacity for investment to support the University’s long-term success.”  

“In the case of courses proposed for closure in the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences and Kingston School of Art, we have launched formal 30-day consultation processes in each Faculty ahead of any final decisions being taken. We are committed to engaging with our staff throughout this period.”

“We will ensure all students on courses where closure is proposed receive the same high-quality teaching they expect from us and can complete their studies successfully. Appropriate supervision will be arranged for any students completing research projects or degrees. ”

“To avoid inadvertently disadvantaging potential applicants, we have suspended applications to courses where closure is proposed. It would be unfair to applicants if decisions were taken following consultation that might mean they either no longer wanted to or were unable to pursue their proposed course of study with us.”