Dundee University is planning to cut its number of academic staff, with claims that up to 150 could go.
Proposals to set up a voluntary severance scheme will be put to the university court its ruling body next week.
Management insisted that no target has been set for the number of job losses, but a university source told The Courier there were fears that more than 10% of the current staff could go.
The source said: “The principal Pete Downes and his vice-principals have drawn up plans to make about 150 academic staff redundant. He is doing this because he is trying to cut costs even though the university has an operating surplus.
“This is the last straw for me and many others. A lot of people who would normally support Professor Downes are now very angry.”
The person said that many people had lost faith in the principal’s ability to act in the best interests of staff and students.
However, Professor Downes defended the voluntary severance proposal.For the latest on this story, see Wednesday’s Courier or try our digital editionHe said: “To deliver our ambitious Transformation vision we need to encourage excellence across all academic areas and to be able to invest in our future strategy at a time of unprecedented pressures on public spending and challenging future financial projections.
“Through our operational planning process we are looking to identify opportunities to generate additional income to support investment.
“However, at this point in our analysis we have identified that we need to achieve reductions in academic staffing levels across the university.
“While no target has been set at present, we will be making a proposal to the meeting of our governing body to be held on February 17 that the university opens a voluntary severance scheme to academic staff,” Professor Downes said.
He added: “The campus unions were briefed about this proposal on a confidential basis last week and we will continue to consult with unions and staff throughout the process.”
It is not known at this stage if job cuts will have any impact on courses.
According to its financial statement for the 2012/13 academic year, the university had 2,882 employees, of whom 1,377 were academics. Staff costs, including wages, social security costs and pensions, totalled £130 million.
Other operating expenses included £11.5m for academic departments and £5.2m for academic services.
Total income was £226m and there was a surplus of £3.5m. That surplus represented 1.5% of income, well short of the 6% target set in the university’s strategy.
The university has been through job cuts before, sparked by its budget falling into deficit. When this ended in 2009 well over 100 academic and support staff had left.
Professor Downes has set out a long-term vision for Dundee to become the best university in Scotland.
Commenting recently about the plans, he said: “The agenda we have set for ourselves … is not one of incremental change, but of transformation.”
The news of proposed staffing cuts comes only days after members of the UCU union representing academics joined other campus unions in a one-day strike as part of a national protest over pay.