A debt-ridden university branded “a hellish nightmare” to work for is set to make further redundancies, KentOnline can reveal.
University of Kent (UoK) bosses last week warned employees it was launching a voluntary severance scheme.
It comes as a leaked survey sees staff describe the institution as “a toxic work environment”, with morale “extremely low”.
The UoK is attempting to claw back an outstanding £66.5 million debt, announcing earlier this year that several courses and almost 60 jobs faced the axe.
An expected reduction in the number of overseas students next year is set to dent its finances further.
Now, details of plans to cut more costs have been revealed.
Following the email about the voluntary redundancies last week, politics lecturer Charles Devellenes told KentOnline he has heard about £6 million needs to be saved from staffing costs.
He believes this will mean “somewhere close to 100 positions will have to go”.
“We all know what this means,” he added.
“If they don’t get enough volunteers then they will just start making people redundant like they’ve done in the past.”
A university spokesperson said: “Like others across the sector we are having to look carefully at our staff costs in light of an anticipated reduction nationally in overseas students next year.
“We'll be working with staff in the weeks ahead on how best to make savings across academic areas, including a limited-period voluntary severance scheme, while ensuring we continue to provide the outstanding and transformative education we are renowned for.”
An internal staff survey - seen by KentOnline - reveals deep-seated resentment over working conditions at the uni and its executive management.
Quizzed on their time working there, employees complained of low pay, overburdensome workloads and poor leadership at an institution once heralded as among the best in the country.
Asked if they were actively seeking to leave the employment of the university, which has campuses in Canterbury and Chatham, 31% said they were.
Explaining why, respondents said: “Kent is a toxic work environment being led by a management team with no vision. It is a hellish nightmare.”
Another said: “Kent is going downhill fast. Staff morale is extremely low. Many people want to leave or retire and financially we are staring into the abyss.”
A further member of staff added: “At this stage, it's not a matter of why people are seeking to leave, but what makes them desperate enough to stay - that is the question you should be asking.”
The university, which employs more than 3,000 people, announced plans in January to cut 58 jobs and six courses between its Canterbury and Medway campuses.
Despite protests by staff and students, a petition 16,000 signatures strong and an overwhelming majority of academic union members voting for industrial action, bosses said in April they would push forward with the changes.
The courses set for closure include art history, music and audio technology, philosophy, religious studies, anthropology, health and social care, and journalism.
Following the turmoil, the university president and vice-chancellor, Professor Karen Cox, resigned from her posts in April.
Dr Devellenes believes the bleak survey feedback should come as no surprise.
“The report shows there’s a clear lack of trust at the university,” he said.
“The workload has been heavily shifted from research towards teaching.
“When I was first hired in 2011 the understanding was that about a third of your work would be dedicated to research, but now we’ve been told next year we’re moving to 20%.
“Teachers and support staff are going above and beyond, but the model is not sustainable. You can’t keep asking people to do more and more each year for declining wages.”
Close to half of the university’s workforce participated in the survey conducted between September and October last year.
But barely a quarter of respondents say the University of Kent is good place to teach, while only 15% say it is a good place to research.
While the exact figures are absent from the report, it is also clear than an overwhelming majority of staff indicated they would not recommend working at UoK to family and friends.
Commenting on the result of the survey, a university spokesman said: “Hearing directly from our staff on what is working well and where we can do better is a vital part of improving how we work and since the survey we have held a number of listening and engagement exercises to better understand their feedback.
“This has been developed into action plans across the University to ensure we make tangible improvements for staff in the months ahead.”
Dr Devellenes explained part of the institution’s struggle is due to financial problems faced by universities all over the country.
“The main challenge is one of finances,” he said.
“Our main source of income has become the student fees and those have been capped at the same level for the past 12 years and we just haven’t been able to keep up with inflation.
“But as much as there are structural issues that the leadership have no control of, there are things they could be doing, but senior management are not very invested in the university’s future.”
Universities are also counting the cost of falling overseas student numbers after the government put restrictions on education visas.
The number of international postgraduate students paying deposits to study at British universities this September had dropped by 63%, compared to the previous year.
The staff survey laid bare resentment for the institution’s leadership team.
The report’s conclusion states: “Overall, questions pertaining to the executive group were overwhelmingly negative”.
Asked if executives responded effectively to challenges, just 7% responded positively.
When subsequently asked what university leadership should focus on, employees begged for an end to “endless restructures”.
“Constant change is costly and erodes trust. We have had five years of restructures and each one has made the university worse.”
The headlines results of the survey were communicated to staff in November and full results shared with the workforce in January this year.
Responding to the survey’s findings in official university papers, the author admitted the past year had “tested the resilience and resolve of many of you here at Kent”.
They continued: “The organisational reception to [recent restructuring] was unanimously poor, and this was only further exacerbated with restrictions imposed on spending, promotions, recruitment and the freezing of annual pay rises.
“Our decisions, though tough, had to be made with the heavy understanding that they were crucial to preserving the essence of the university and ensuring our survival toward a brighter future.
“However, in our efforts to fix the fundamentals and ensure the longevity of the university, we acknowledge and take accountability for the fact that we neglected to look at the short-term, and how detrimentally you, our staff, would be impacted.
“Some of what was shared [in the survey] was hard for us to hear, but it is only in being open and honest about our collective experience that we can work together to address the challenges we face.
“It is clear that we have lost the faith of some of our staff, and that improving on our operational practices is a crucial first step in mending the bridges that have been broken.”
Canterbury Education In Depth Kent Medway James Pallant
