University cuts may fail equality report says

Universities cuts could disproportionately affect women, black and disabled students and staff, the lecturers’ union says the BBC.

The University and College Union (UCU) claims 21 out of 43 institutions planning cuts have not met rules requiring them to assess their impact on minority groups, according to the BBC.

The claim comes as the government is calling on universities to widen access for poorer groups, and very recently Lord Mandelson also tells the Timesonline universities must stop failing working class.

However, Universities UK rejected the claims, and accused the union of scaremongering.

As the BBC reports university have a duty to promote equality and are required to assess the impact of policy on the ground of race, gender and disability.

Besides this, the BBC went on to say they are required to make a "thorough and systematic" assessment on whether any changes they are making to services, staffing levels and courses could have a detrimental impact on these groups.

However, UCU claims nearly half of those planning cuts have failed to do so.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said in an interview with the BBC that these figures show a “systematic failure of our universities to comply with the law”, and she says “it is a simply shocking state of affairs”.

“We urge the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to urgently investigate why universities are failing in their duties and will be closely monitoring all universities, especially with daily news of greater job cuts.”

UCU’s head of equality Rachel Curley said there was a legal obligation to eliminate and minimise the impact of such changes on these particular groups, according to the BBC.

She says there are a number of areas where we have very serious concerns about the impact on staff and students.

She then said the closing workplace nurseries, crèches for students, libraries and the whole range of areas may disproportionately affect different ethnic groups, women and disabled staff and students.

She gave the London Metropolitan University as an example. The university is planning to close its nursery, which could have a high impact on female staff and students.

According to the BBC, the lecturers’ union has been protesting at London Metropolitan's cuts plans, which it claims could mean the loss of the more than 500 posts.

The cuts were followed by the University funding loss of £50m, because of the students’ drop-out numbers.

Among the losses highlighted by the union, were cuts planned in Irish studies, Asia Pacific studies and women's studies.

However, a university spokeswoman declined the university cuts failed equality and said it was confident that it had met all the legal requirements on equality impact assessments.

A spokeswoman for Universities UK also said “UCU's latest scaremongering tactic does nothing for the higher education sector but undermine confidence and increase staff anxieties.” the BBC reports.