University of Suffolk begins consultation on 35 job losses
The university says it must reduce costs by £3.5 million due to falling income, rising costs, and changes to visa rules
The University of Suffolk has begun a consultation that could lead to around 35 staff members losing their jobs as part of a wider plan to cut costs.
The university, based in Ipswich, says it needs to save £3.5 million and is proposing changes that include a restructure of academic schools and administrative support. The consultation will run until late June.
A spokesperson for the University of Suffolk said:
“Like most universities, the University of Suffolk is under considerable financial pressure due to the real-terms fall in the value of the UK student tuition fee, the tightening of overseas visa rules, and rising costs, including the recent National Insurance increase.
“We also face an increasingly competitive student recruitment environment. While we have an ongoing programme to maximise efficiency savings and digital transformation, we still need to take immediate action to reduce our costs by £3.5 million.”
The proposals include not filling some vacant roles and a possible net reduction of around 35 current positions. These plans follow a separate consultation that began in early 2025, which looked at up to 15 other roles. Those were mainly linked to outreach work aimed at increasing university participation among local school-leavers, according to reports in the East Anglian Daily Times.
The university has said it is working with affected staff to explore other job options within the organisation. It expects that the total number of redundancies will be reduced through redeployment and the creation of new posts.
The spokesperson added:
“The University remains committed to providing a high-quality education and maintaining our positive student experience. We are seeking to minimise the impact on the whole range of our activities.”
The situation at the University of Suffolk reflects wider challenges in the UK’s higher education sector. Other universities are also cutting jobs due to financial pressures. The University of East Anglia, for example, plans to cut 170 full-time roles in order to save £11 million. That announcement has led to staff voting in favour of strike action.
Despite its cost-saving plans, the University of Suffolk has said it is not under the same financial strain as some other institutions. Its expansion projects, including new dental courses, are still expected to go ahead.