Aberdeen University is to pause building work worth tens of millions of pounds and almost all staff recruitment in response to the “calamitous” effect of coronavirus, a leaked letter has revealed.
The memo, penned by senior management including principal George Boyne, has laid bare concern for the institution’s ongoing financial health.
But bosses also reassured staff the “top priority” would be to save jobs – and would be looking at furloughing staff during the outbreak to ensure the university can hit the ground running when normality returns.
Mr Boyne, alongside senior vice-principal Karl Leydecker, acting operations director Debbie Dyker and finance director David Beattie, sent the letter to staff on Wednesday afternoon.
It warned that as a result of “the world changing so calamitously in recent weeks”, the “financial position of the university for 2020/21 is now under very serious pressure”.
The four wrote: “With uncertainty over how long students could be away from our campuses, together with associated impacts in other area such as lost research income, our primary objective must be to protect our capacity to respond when student recruitment and other activity returns to normal – as we currently expect for academic year 2021/22.”
Any staff being furloughed would have 80% of their salaries paid by the UK Government, while the university has committed to continuing to pay the remainder.
Vast plans for spending on capital projects – including £50 million transformation plans for the historic King’s campus – are being suspended.
Last year management announced plans to spend £100 million on regeneration and redevelopment, including the plans for King’s College and a nearby business school.
That figure also included the £35 million science facility being built near St Machar Drive, which is still under construction.
Staff recruitment is also to be frozen “for the foreseeable future”, apart from in a very small number of critical roles, the letter revealed.
The fortunes of the ancient institution rely heavily on the “very high growth” in the number of international students coming to the north-east.
The university had been expected to make around 20% of its overall revenue next year through international tuition fees – projected to be worth around £50 million in 2020/21.
Now, however, the letter reveals “that income is now likely to fall substantially, because of the restrictions and uncertainty created by coronavirus”.
An increase in international students deferring or reconsidering studying in Aberdeen has already been witnessed, but it is hoped some of those unable take up study in the city in September could yet do so in January.
Management also revealed hope they could “maximises research income by responding to calls for research projects to tackle coronavirus and its impact”.
An Aberdeen University spokeswoman said: “Due to the economic uncertainty created by the coronavirus outbreak, and in particular its impact on international student recruitment and other important revenue sources, the university is taking prudent measures to protect its financial sustainability.
“Above all our priority is to protect jobs and thereby to preserve our ability to respond effectively when circumstances improve, and we have written to staff to inform them of potential measures that may be required in order to achieve this aim.
“We continue to examine ways in which the university can best respond to current challenges, however in common with our colleagues across the higher education sector we believe that extra grant support from government is crucial.
“We await greater clarity on any available support that will allow us to plan ahead effectively.”
