University of East Anglia's union branch has no confidence in leaders

A union says it has no confidence in the leaders of a university after it reported a £13.9m loss.

The University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich said it was "experiencing significant challenges" with finances and it was unlikely savings could be made without compulsory redundancies.

The University and Colleges Union's UEA branch said it had no confidence in the vice chancellor, deputy vice chancellor and chief resources officer.

The UEA said it was aware of the vote.

The university said financial challenges were "driven by the effects of Covid, the tuition fee freeze, pressures on student numbers and rising costs".

At a meeting on Friday, the UEA branch of the University and College's Union (UCU) voted it had no confidence in the senior leaders.

The branch chair, Dr Michael Kyriacou, said it was "in light of their failure to communicate effectively with staff, their failure to provide information in a timely fashion and their failure to present or agree a plan or vision for the university that is not conditional on compulsory redundancies".

University staff are said to be questioning the reasons given by senior leaders for the financial issues, including lower student numbers and inflation, the BBC understands.

A spokeswoman for the university said: "No decision has been made with regards to the new structure and so no information is yet available to be shared with staff - this is being worked on."

A university council meeting is due to take place later where the vote of no confidence by the union will be discussed.

A senior academic at the university, who wished to remain anonymous, told the BBC: "The future of hundreds of jobs, thousands of students and one of the economic cornerstones of our local economy rests on whether the university council and senior leadership are able to make some difficult decisions and ensure the correct person is at the helm to see us through this difficult time."

A spokeswoman for the UEA said: "We are aware of a communication from the UEA Branch of UCU to the Chair of Council. A regularly scheduled meeting of UEA Council is taking place on Monday."

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