University of East Anglia facing job losses amid new turmoil

Staff at the UEA were this week told the organisation has suffered a fresh financial blow which will mean roles are again at risk.

Vice-chancellor David Maguire told staff during a forum that an additional £11m had been piled onto its budget deficit.

David Maguire, vice-chancellor of the UEA (Image: University of East Anglia) He said this had arisen due to "inflationary cost pressures and reduction in international postgraduate numbers".

Prof Maguire said: "The financial impact of this drop in international students means we cannot rule out redundancies.

"I stress that compulsory redundancies will always be a last resort.

"I recognise this will be unsettling news for the UEA community.

"I have assured our staff that we will continue to provide clarity on progress and timelines, and staff will be given more information on provisional plans in early November."

It comes almost two years after it emerged the organisation had to make £45m in savings over a period of three years.

The difficulties have been blamed on a number of factors, including declining student numbers, struggles with overseas recruitment and growing rates of inflation against frozen tuition fees.

The latest announcement also comes almost exactly a year after the university announced it would be able to make the savings it needed without compulsory redundancies - although it did remove several vacant posts and accept voluntary redundancies.

Prof Maguire added: "We have been open about the significant challenges being faced across the sector with the erosion of the value of undergraduate tuition fees, which are now worth around £3,500 less per student in real terms than when they were introduced.

"We have already worked to make savings in areas where no significant impact will be felt on our university.

"Though the scale of the challenge is significant, we are one year into our three-year savings plan and are confident we will remain on track."