Cardiff University reorganisation plans: LSW Statement
As Wales’ National Academy, the Learned Society of Wales has been increasingly concerned that Welsh universities are operating within a difficult financial context. Economic strain, the impacts of immigration policy on international student numbers, and Brexit have all contributed to this UK-wide crisis. As we highlighted in our response to the Welsh Government’s latest draft budget consultation, and the recent Medr Strategy consultation, underinvestment in research is a false economy, and risks jeopardising the significant contribution that research and innovation makes to much-needed economic growth.
In light of recent announcements by Cardiff University, in relation to its proposed reorganisation and job losses, we ask that the consultation is transparent and seeks to mitigate the worst of the possible impacts.
Our first concern is with the individual staff at the university, many of them Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales and members of our Early-Career Researcher Network, who face uncertainty about their futures. They should know the full basis for decisions that affect their livelihoods. We expect Cardiff University to make available the data that informed their initial proposals.
Access to this data will help shape the alternative plans that the university has invited as part of the consultation. Staff need to have their views and alternative proposals, in relation to vital courses and named degrees, properly considered.
The proposed job losses would be felt across many academic schools. The potential loss of nursing would, as the Royal College of Nursing states, threaten the ‘pipeline of registered nurses into the largest health board in Wales’ at a time when the NHS faces a severe staffing crisis. We are concerned that arts and humanities subjects are facing significant, disproportionate cuts, and that modern languages, music, ancient history and religious studies are likely to be discontinued. Arts and humanities research underpins a significant portion of the higher education sector’s impact within Wales, including our creative industries and our cultural life. Our recent report, Changing the narrative: Valuing Arts and Humanities degrees, noted that arts and humanities graduates are particularly well equipped with the kinds of transferable skills that employers require, such as creative and analytical thinking. Indeed, many of the most future-proofed skills in our rapidly changing world are core to the arts and humanities (such as critical thinking and creativity, as identified by the World Economic Forum). Any reduction to these degree subjects would undermine economic potential and social cohesion for the whole of Wales.
Wales’ higher education institutions play a vital role as anchor institutions in their communities. They foster positive change and innovation in the social, economic, environmental, and cultural life of the cities and towns they are part of. We call on Cardiff University’s management to join us in doing all we can to strengthen and sustain that role.