As much as we love to bring you videos of Izzy dancing, celebrate your wins on the field, and showcase your society events, we’re here to represent you and keep you informed about what’s happening on campus and across the higher education landscape, and currently things are very challenging.
Let’s lay it on the table: universities across the UK, including Brunel, are facing financial challenges, largely due to a drop in international student numbers over the past couple of years. For Brunel, this means less income from tuition fees and lower demand for accommodation and campus services. During the post-pandemic period, the university expanded to meet growing student numbers, but with recent declines, it now needs to scale back, aiming to save millions of pounds.
You might have seen messages about staff reductions. The university is looking to reduce its academic staff by 14%, around 130 full-time positions, and is also making changes to its non-teaching staff structures. This follows a voluntary severance scheme offered to staff earlier this year. You may also notice a slower response in building maintenance as the university focuses on essential upkeep only to manage costs.
While a planned rise in home student tuition fees will bring in some welcome new money, increased employer costs, such as national insurance contributions, mean this extra income won’t cover the financial gap. We understand this is unsettling but rest assured that we’re working hard to ensure that any cost-saving measures have minimal impact on your student experience.
We want to hear from you: What services are most important to you? Are you experiencing negative impact from changes that have happened already? Whether it’s academic support, mental health services, student activities and events, or access to campus facilities, your feedback will help us push for what matters most. Every day we work closely with the university and are confident they’re doing everything possible to minimise the impact on your student experience during this time - TELL US HERE!
This isn’t just a Brunel issue—it’s happening across the UK. But that doesn’t make it any less challenging. We’re committed to representing your needs and supporting both students and staff as we navigate this together. If you’re feeling worried or need support, our Advice Service is here for you.
As an update, we’ve met with UCU and understand their concerns. We’ll be in touch again next week with more information, including how students can get involved in supporting staff during this time and ways that we can work together to minimise the impact.