Queen’s University Belfast has been criticised for its decision to open a new campus in India after last year announcing a voluntary redundancy scheme for staff working in Belfast.
Queen’s has requested 270 voluntary redundancies, but the university has argued that the new campus in India is essential to retaining international students.
Speaking to Good Morning Ulster, Katharine Clarke of the University and College Union (UCU) said Queen’s has let their staff in Belfast down.
“The decision to set up a campus in India, as we understand it, is a speculative one to generate an additional revenue stream, but it appears to be being done at the expense of our members here in Belfast.”
Ms Clarke believes Queen’s needs to do more to avoid voluntary redundancies.
“The priority of any responsible employer should be to save the jobs of those people that work for them,” she said.
“We think there are serious questions that have to be asked about Queen’s University’s strategic plan and I think there are serious questions to be asked of the university’s governing body of approving this redundancy scheme without doing diligence around financial modelling as to whether these savings could be made elsewhere without axing Northern Ireland jobs.”
The 270 voluntary redundancies represent around 5% of Queen’s University Belfast’s current staff of around 5,000.
Last year it was reported the redundancies would centre on those staff employed in academic, research and support roles.
Ms Clarke said this means that staff who don’t take voluntary redundancy could be left with unreasonable workloads.
Alistair Finlay, the university’s interim vice-president, told Good Morning Ulster that the campus in India is small and will be used to teach Indian students who can no longer afford to move to Belfast to study following Brexit.
“The recently approved investment in India is very small. We’re talking about a lease that is effectively five floors of the building, offering five postgraduate programmes,” he said.
“We are moving to where the international students are, rather than just relying on them coming to Belfast.”
Mr Finlay said the campus is expected to cost between £5-7m annually and will employ 35 staff. He added that Queen’s is not the only university developing campuses abroad.
“All universities across the UK are in this position; this isn’t just us, this is happening in Scotland, England and Wales,” he said.
Mr Finlay believes the voluntary redundancy scheme gives staff a “generous” offer.
“Ours is an entirely voluntary scheme. Our chancellor is committed to no involuntary redundancies. The offer is generous. But that’s one of our values as a university — that we treat our staff well and we treat them well if they choose to leave the university,” he said.
Mr Finlay also said he is willing to engage with unions to discuss their concerns.
“We have done everything we can to engage with the trade unions so that everyone can understand what is driving this, because we need to balance our operating budget.”
In October the BBC reported the Russell Group institution was facing an £11m shortfall.
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News Catch Up – Tuesday 4 February