Queen’s University Belfast has been criticized for its decision to open a campus in India, after it announced 270 job cuts in Northern Ireland through a voluntary redundancy scheme. The University and College Union (UCU) accused the university of “directing taxpayer money into axing jobs in Northern Ireland while creating them on foreign shores”.
The university defended the decision, saying it was facing a financial deficit amid a “sharp decline” in international students and that it had to take a number of actions to cut its costs. It added that the redundancy scheme was wholly voluntary.
The UCU said it was “scandalous” that QUB was prioritizing expansion abroad rather than safeguarding jobs in Belfast. The union also expressed concerns about the workloads faced by the remaining staff and described the severance process as “brutal and unnecessary”.
The university is investing between £5m-£7m in the new campus and said it had provided a “large amount of information” to the union. However, the union has described the planned redundancies as “brutal and unnecessary” and said it was deeply concerned about the workloads faced by the remaining staff.
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