Cardiff University Vice Chancellor Wendy Larner

Martin Shipton

Cardiff University’s embattled Vice Chancellor Wendy Larner has told a Senedd committee that most of the stress endured by the university’s academic staff since the announcement of a major cuts programme was personal and not work-related.

Professor Larner was responding to a question from Shadow Education Secretary Natasha Asghar in a public session of the Children, Young Persons and Education Committee.

Earlier this week the University and College Union (UCU) released a staff survey showing that the announcement in January that 400 academic jobs were proposed to be cut as well as five of the university’s Schools had caused such anxiety that some had contemplated suicide and others having an abortion.

Ms Asghar referred to the mental exhaustion experienced by staff and asked Prof Larner whether the university assessed staff well-being, and what steps would be taken to ensure their welfare was protected going forward.

Staff well-being

Prof Larner said: “Of course we consistently monitor staff well-being. It’s a very standard part of our HR processes. We have seen not very much change in stress related data. As is always the case, the majority of that stress related data refers to personal stress, not workplace stress.

“But I absolutely understand the challenge here and indeed, as you will know from recent media coverage, our union are very concerned about this and when they shared the results of the survey they had conducted in February with us, we immediately established a joint working group with them, where we are working hard to think about what else we might do.

“Throughout the process, we have signposted very explicitly our well-being support within the university. I have to say, as someone who knows a lot of universities, Cardiff University is very well served in this regard. We have run dedicated sessions, particularly for those schools, who are in scope [for redundancy or closure] to help them understand the support that they might draw upon. I take the well-being of our staff very seriously. This is not easy.”

‘Blindsided’

TV executive Pat Younge, who chairs the University Council, said: “We thought we were about to sign a joint agreement, a draft plan, next week. We were a bit blindsided by the decision by UCU to go to the media this week, but that joint working is underway. I am personally very committed to that. I have said that, both in public and behind closed doors.

“So I’m hoping we can get that back on track. The Vice Chancellor’s being very polite, to be honest. UCU did bring us their survey. We did meet with them. There’s a lot of talk about social partnership. We believe we’re working in partnership with them to create a new joint strategy. In fact, it’s meant to be signed off next week. We then discover on Monday that they’ve issued a press release that they’re taking us to the HSE [Health and Safety Executive}. We were actually informed of that after they’d issued it to the press.

“All I would say is that social partnership working works both ways. And, you know, I’m deeply disappointed in some of the behaviours. As Chair of Council, we have an obligation and a responsibility for everybody in the university, and we need to sort of change that paradigm because it isn’t working.”

Plaid Cymru education spokesperson Cefin Campbell put it to Prof Larner that the university had backtracked on its original proposals. He asked her whether it had been wise to approach the changes in the way it had, given the damage to staff morale, goodwill and trust, as well as the reputational damage to the university, not only in Cardiff and Wales, but internationally.

‘Genuine engagement’

She responded: “We were very clear in January that it was a consultation and that there would be a genuine engagement around the proposals we put on the table in January. I do understand that despite our best efforts to help both universities and our stakeholders understand how challenging the moment was for us, the scale of that announcement came as a shock.

“We’ve recently had a joint ACAS facilitated seminar that brought together the senior leaders from the university and the senior leaders from the union to discuss approaches to restructuring and redundancies more generally. And I for one found that a very helpful session. It confirmed that, difficult as it has been, we have taken the right approach. We did need to do what we have done in order to identify those areas of the university that were in scope [for redundancy or closure]. I’m delighted by the quality of the alternative proposals that came up from our community. That is why we have been able to change, quite significantly, those initial plans.”

Mr Younge told the committee: “We don’t have a God given right to exist. We do have to live within our means, and this has been a difficult exercise. Before Wendy joined us, we ran two rounds of voluntary severance. We didn’t get the take up that we needed to avoid going into the sort of program that we’ve gone into.

“I’ve read the evidence of all the other Welsh universities, and I know all the other Chairs in Wales. I think you know that this is a deep structural problem. This was just Cardiff University going through this … There’s no easy way to tell 100, 200, 400 people that they’re at risk of redundancy. It is a difficult exercise. But sometimes, especially if you love something, and I love Cardiff University, you have to give people difficult messages, and this was one of them.”

Senate

Asked whether it was the case that the university’s Senate – composed of academics – had rejected the latest cuts proposals at a meeting on Wednesday June 11, Prof Larner said: “So the Senate has an advisory role in this process. So we heard, very eloquently at the Senate, particularly from heads of school with disciplines that are those disciplines that the plans propose we disinvest from. And quite understandably, Senate colleagues did not recommend those changes to Council.

“They offered all sorts of good advice. We will present that advice to Council along with the papers that go to Council around this item.”

Asked whether the university would be on a firm financial footing if the revised proposals are implemented, Prof Larner said: “Well, the financial headwinds continue to blow strongly. The recent immigration White Paper, for example, just fills me with foreboding. The challenges around international students coming to the UK are very real. Many universities, us included, have seen a very significant drop off in applications and indeed enrolments. In part this is about shifts in the policy settings in Westminster, but in part it’s also about wider geopolitical shifts where international students who might once have come to the UK now have more opportunities available to them.

“The Chinese students for example who’ve been very important historically not just for the UK but for the Anglo-speaking countries, Australasia and North America included. China now does very effective postgraduate training programmes in China delivered in English, and there is now transnational education from China in south east Asia, again being delivered in English. Students are staying in that part of the world rather than coming to join us.”

‘Bruising’

After the meeting, a spokesperson for Cardiff UCU said: “This morning the Vice Chancellor of Cardiff University Professor Wendy Larner, alongside Chair of University Council Pat Younge was called to answer questions about Cardiff University management’s ongoing controversial cuts proposals from cross-party members of the Senedd’s Children, Young People and Education Committee.

“The hearing took place less than 24 hours after a bruising rejection of management’s Academic Futures cuts proposals by Cardiff University Senate (the body responsible for upholding academic standards at the institution). When asked to vote, not one member of the Senate, which included close allies of the Vice Chancellor, voted in favour of recommending the plans proposed to University Council (which is the supreme governing body of the University, and meets to scrutinise the plans on Tuesday March 17.

“In the four months since cuts were announced we have lost 160 expert academics across the university, 400 academics still remain in scope for redundancy, and the plans that they have produced will further devastate the university and fundamentally risk its future sustainability.

“Under huge pressure from staff, students, and the wider community the university has been forced to U-turn on some of its most damaging proposals. But we remain deeply concerned that the ongoing proposed cuts and restructure risks Cardiff University’s future reputation and financial security, as well as its ability to contribute world-leading teaching, research, and professional training to Wales.

”The Vice Chancellor’s answers to Senedd members today did nothing to alleviate those fears, and in some ways made them worse.”

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