UNIVERSITIES are in an “existential moment” having announced more than 15,000 job cuts in the past year, University and College Union (UCU) warned today.

Many universities across Britain are facing financial challenges with more than two in five forecasting a deficit for 2024/25 in data released in May.

UCU published its findings while continuing to ballot members over its demands that employer body, the Universities & College Employers Association (UCEA), commits to a national agreement to stop redundancies at all universities, protects existing national agreements, and improves on its 1.4 per cent pay offer for 2025/26.

The union’s general secretary Jo Grady said: “These job losses are not minor, and government must stop treating them as localised incidents.

“Overpaid vice-chancellors are carrying out brutal cuts and have caused an existential moment for the UK higher education sector; our members do not want to strike, but they have been left with no choice but to ballot to defend it.”

UCEA chief executive Raj Jethwa said that the pay offer for staff for 2025-26 “clearly does not reflect the true value employers place on staff but, given the severity of the financial pressures they face, this pay offer was the only prudent option open to employers, to try to protect students and staff.”

Government plans for a new international students levy to fund maintenance grants have been unpopular, with universities warning of potential further job losses.

The Department for Education said that it “took the tough but necessary decision to increase tuition fees in line with inflation to put universities on a secure financial footing.”