London Metropolitan University - No to Job Cuts - Defend Education

We, the undersigned, call on the government and HEFCE to ensure that funds are available to London Metropolitan University to avert threatened redundancies.

HEFCE has reduced London Metropolitans teaching grant by 18m / year and is clawing back 38m in over-payments as a result of inaccurate returns on student completion rates. London Metropolitans management are now insisting on 330 redundancies across the university within months.

Reductions in staffing will erode London Metropolitan Universitys ability to offer high quality education to Londoners and will inflict damage on the prospects of the students who pursue their studies, often at great cost. This is nonsensical: in a recession, the government should be investing more, not less, in education. If billions of pounds are available to bail out private banks and their rich shareholders, then there is certainly funding available for education. We call on the government to step in to save the university so that staff and students do not pay for the incompetence of others through job cuts and course closures.