DCU job losses possible says Ferdie as 6% cut in staff sought

The government is seeking a 6% reduction in higher education staff across the country - a move that is set to affect DCU.

DCU president Ferdinand von Prondzynski has warned he cannot guarantee that students will not be affected by the staffing cuts, saying “we will seek to protect the student experience as much as possible, though again I need to say that we cannot lose 6% of posts without that being noticed somewhere.”

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has already implemented a recruiting embargo in colleges and universities. DCU plans to enact the cut by not replacing retiring staff members.

Prondzynski says that he hopes DCU will be able to bring in the cuts without resorting to letting staff go, but stresses that there will be a “need to review things as the year progresses.”

He says: “The cuts required are 6% based on those employed in December 2008. We have already achieved 3% without anyone losing their job, but we’ll need to see how it goes from here.”

The Students’ Union reacted fiercely to the cuts stating “if we think the university is going to head in a direction that will put students at a disadvantage, we will work to combat this.”

SU education and welfare officer John Murphy says that the staffing cuts, “will naturally be felt right across the university. However, it’s difficult to say where the cuts will come from. The university will strive to ensure that it does not place its students at a disadvantage academically and continue to provide the same quality level of education.”

The framework outlined by the HEA in proposing the cuts will allow greater flexibility in the filling of vacancies.

The HEA will no longer have to give written permission before a staff post is filled. This increased flexibility is subject to several demands, including that colleges and universities operate within a balanced budget.

Colleges must also ensure that quality is maintained, student demand is met and re-training programmes are made available as part of the flexibility deal.

Labour’s Ruairi Quinn has called the recruitment embargo “a very blunt instrument to make savings.”

He says, “The universities have not been able to replace staff with expertise in particular fields, leading to a shortage of staff in some departments and an oversupply of staff in others… the current setup will compromise the quality of education in our third level institutions.”

Fine Gael’s education spokesperson Brian Hayes however, does not believe that the cuts go far enough.

“The big issue isn’t really cuts,” he says.

“The big issue is how we can move towards a totally new system of funding higher education. I’m on record as supporting a graduate contribution scheme, whereby we can move towards graduates making a contribution towards the costs of their higher education. I think until this issue is addressed we’re never going to get an honest debate on higher education.”