Letter to Brighton University regarding proposed cuts in teaching staff

Over recent decades, the University of Brighton has grown its presence within Crawley, but now job cuts threaten the continued success of the university in the area. This morning I wrote to the vice chancellor to raise concerns over the proposed redundancies.

Professor Debra Humphris OBE
Vice Chancellor
University of Brighton
Mithras House
Lewes Road
Brighton
BN2 4A

Sunday 17^th September 2023

Dear Professor Humphris,

I am writing to express concerns over the proposed job losses at the University of Brighton and particularly the potential involuntary redundancies of a further 22 members of staff beyond the 81 lecturers who have already agreed to leave.

Over recent decades, the University of Brighton has developed increasingly strong connections with Crawley. Brighton is not only the first choice for a growing number of local students, but the university’s links with Manor Royal businesses and physical presence in the town through its partnerships with Crawley College—most recently helping to establish the Institute of Technology, mean that the reductions in staff potentially have a direct impact upon the constituency.

Having spent eight years taking difficult decisions to balance budgets as a local authority leader, I recognise the financial challenges affecting most UK public institutions right now. However, I have always taken the approach that job losses should be a last resort and academics are clearly a university’s most important resource. It is hard to see how a university can avoid experiencing significant reductions in teaching standards and research activity when losing almost 10% of its academic staff.

I firmly believe that it would better serve the university to first look for opportunities for revenue growth or at reducing other areas of expenditure before resorting to further cuts in its workforce.