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The University of South Wales (USW) is facing a projected £20m financial shortfall in its most contemporary financial yr and has not ruled out redundancies to assist address it, whereas also confirming it will procedure on reserves. The university, enjoy the wider increased education sector in Wales and the comfort of the UK, is facing a not easy financial atmosphere with falling global student numbers that non-public offset loss-making home college students, the assign tuition expenses had been capped at £9,250 per academic yr, for a quantity of years.
The Welsh Authorities handiest recently increased the home rate stage to align with the comfort of the UK. Better rate paying global student numbers non-public fallen since the introduction of stricter visa principles for kinfolk of postgraduate college students in the foundation of the yr.
The contemporary Labour authorities has no most contemporary plans to enact a U-flip on the policy of the worn Tory administration. The contemporary principles in explicit non-public significantly impacted student numbers from Nigeria, with a 68% drop in UK student visas granted to Nigerians in the first half of of this yr. USW, in line with most contemporary figures, had 2,065 Nigerian college students – the ideal of any Welsh university.
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In its last financial yr the university, which has campuses in Treforest and Cardiff, was faced with a £6m deficit. It launched a voluntary redundancy programme – as many universities non-public – earlier this yr. To this point 100 workers non-public left after agreeing redundancy settlements. USW said its projected £20m financial shortfall for 2024/25 also can very well be addressed over a quantity of years, on account of its significant financial reserves – as it objectives to salvage onto a more sustainable financial footing.
It wouldn’t give a most contemporary reserve position. Its accounts for 2023-2024 are in the strategy of being audited. Nonetheless, accounts for 2022-23 confirmed it had full procure assets of £273.6m, collectively with in the foundation of the yr cash and cash equivalents of exquisite over £59m. The university wouldn’t command its contemporary student consumption quantity for the exquisite commenced 2024/25 academic yr and the assign the numbers stood when it comes to deal with.
Most modern official figures from the Better Education Statistics Company, for the 2022-23 academic yr, confirmed it had exquisite over 26,000 stout-time and fragment-time college students, of which around 18% were overseas. For stout -time college students (19,290) foreign college students made up around 35%.
A spokesman for the university said: “It is an extremely not easy financial local climate to your entire high education sector and enjoy many institutions we are facing a deficit finances this yr. We’re predicting a shortfall of £20m in 2024/25 if no motion is taken.
“However, we are not expecting to make up this deficit in a single year and instead have a planned programme of transformation, which we are already working to deliver, that will take us closer to achieving the aims of our 2030 strategy whilst also providing a sustainable financial position.
“USW’s strong reserve position means that we are able to take time to consider our options and operationalise this plan effectively. It is likely that this will include some redundancies, however we are unable to provide any further details at this stage.”
The university wouldn’t be drawn when asked if any redundancies could be compulsory. A spokesman for the University and College Union (UCU) in Wales said: “We are continuing to work with universities in Wales very closely. However, any compulsory redundancies would be unacceptable.”
According to its financial accounts to the end of July, 2023, USW employed nearly 2,200. Staff costs of £124.8m accounted for 53% of its total income of £233m. The university recently started construction work on a multi-million-pound computing, engineering and technologies building at its Treforest campus.
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