Brighton University lecturers are warning prospective students away during clearing this year as part of a campaign to stop mass redundancies.
Clearing, which takes place on A level results day, enables students to go to university even if they were not originally offered a place.
However, striking University and College Union (UCU) members are advising prospective students not to sign up to study at Brighton due to an international academic boycott of the university.
Ryan Burns, a senior lecturer in media studies and secretary of the UCU trade union branch, said: “It’s a very sad situation to be in.”
“In previous years during clearing, I would tell prospective students about how great their course would be and how much they would enjoy studying at Brighton.
“But with our university management forcing through over 100 redundancies this year, many staff feel they cannot currently in good conscience encourage people to study here.”
A statement from UCU Brighton, which represents lecturers, researchers and professors, said: “Our message to prospective students is that they should look elsewhere.
“Management at the University of Brighton cannot be trusted to maintain educational standards in the current circumstances.
“Nearly 100 members of staff have already been forced out through redundancy processes in the last few months, with more planned.
“At the same time, the university plans to increase student numbers this year. This will leave Brighton with an even worse student-staff ratio, which is already one of the very worst in the country.
“Rather than work with the trade union to find ways to mitigate these redundancies, this university’s management seem determined to drive through job cuts no matter what.
“Our advice to prospective students who call the clearing hotline on Thursday is to ask about class sizes and ask for a guarantee that the modules listed on the course website will actually run.
“Cutting staff means that something will have to give next year and the inevitable result for new students in October will be increased class sizes and modules being cancelled.”
Proposals by Brighton University initially planned for 110 jobs to be lost in a restructuring of the workforce, with compulsory redundancies “as a last resort” to fill the gap if too few academic staff took voluntary redundancy.
Twenty-two members of staff are now facing compulsory redundancy, despite more than 80 applications for voluntary redundancy being accepted.
The academic boycott and indefinite strike is the harshest academic sanction available to the UCU. They followed a 94 per cent vote of no confidence in the vice-chancellor and senior management.
Dr Burns added: “We all thought that such a massive vote of no confidence would force the university management to stop and reconsider their actions.
“Shockingly, they have doubled down and are now forcing through so many compulsory redundancies that they will actually exceed their initial target.
“We believe that our continued action and the massive amount of support from current students will ultimately force management to concede that their plans had gone too far and to call off the remaining redundancies”.
UCU members also started a marking and assessment boycott on Thursday 20 April, meaning that many students will graduate without receiving their marks for assessments.
A group of students staged a six-day sit-in in June over the proposed redundancies.
Brighton University said: “The university recently concluded a consultation that will see some staff leave the university.
“These changes have been carefully planned to avoid an impact on our students and our academic standards have in no way been affected by the changes.
“As in any other year, the publication of A level results will confirm the news that thousands of students have achieved their goal in gaining a place at the University of Brighton.
“Others who are yet to find their place will apply through clearing and we look forward to welcoming large numbers of those candidates on to our courses and the rooms we have available in our accommodation.”
As an international student, university of Brighton is a school that, I can never recommend. There is no value for money and the lecturers do not seem to know what they are doing.
Advise people to not come to your Uni and pay tuition fee aka your wage. Smart.
Moreso then you realise. Hitting companies in the wallet is well known to be the fastest and most effective way to facilitate change.
I was on track for a first class degree. I now have an ‘ordinary’ degree thanks to the management not caring about anything but lining their pockets.
The staff are the best thing about the University of Brighton. They are without a doubt the most kind, supportive, hardworking lecturers who went above and beyond the scope of their on-paper duties to support me throughout my 3 years there. I enjoyed my classes and my time there, despite the myriad of issues faced there institutionally, because of the staff. Without them, it is not an institution worth going to.
Prospective clearing students: do NOT go to the University of Brighton!
The staff are what make it. Without them, it is worthless to go there. The Board does NOT care about you.
As someone who has two firsts, no-one outside of some very elitist roles care about your degree classification. I wouldn’t worry about that part!
I am a current part-time Masters student. The way the university is treating staff is nothing short of appalling. They are forcing through redundancies, dismantling humanities and arts, and docking tutors 100% wages during the marking boycott despite the work they did. The impact on students is astronomical, and something the uni continually denies. At one point we were told there would be NO impact whatsoever. We are being continually lied to. Many of us have yet to receive grades for work that we’ve dedicated so much time to. It’s an absolute shambles.
I used to work here as a lecturer. There are individual members of staff who are excellent, but far too many are intellectual lightweights with delusions of grandeur. The voluntary severance scheme means that the former will leave, leaving a higher concentration of the latter.
Don’t send your kids here.
I went to Brighton Polytechnic and received a third class degree. I am however one of the few people from that year who are full time practising in the degree we took. In the early eighties education ( under Thatcher ) was free for those bright enough to seek it. The main problem at Brighton Poly was the fact that most of the male tutors thought it was a smorgasbord of lust that female students were there to provide for. I enquired a while back on whether our personal files has been retained. They had unfortunately been destroyed I understand.
I feel so sorry for the expensive but poor quality education our young people are now forced to purchase, thanks to Tony BLiar and Nick Clegg🤬
Sounds like degree classification does not relate to success, and we’ve had multiple stories of people over the years prove this point.