Spending cuts force university jobs freeze

THE first effects of the Government’s order to cut spending in third-level colleges have emerged in a jobs embargo at National University of Ireland (NUI) Maynooth.

College president Professor John Hughes has told senior management, in a letter seen by the Irish Examiner, that he is reluctantly imposing a freeze on recruitment until further notice.

The directive follows Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe’s instruction to higher education bosses last month to slash pay bills by 3% as part of Government spending cuts in response to the economic slowdown.

While most State-funded colleges are still deciding how to achieve the necessary savings, likely to top €50 million, recruitment bans like that at NUI Maynooth look set to follow across the 21 universities and institutes of technology.

The revelation comes just days before almost 40,000 third-level places are offered to school leavers and others, and at a time when Mr O’Keeffe and college bosses are already in dispute over existing funding levels.

Prof Hughes wrote to academic and administrative managers following recent information from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) which oversees colleges’ funding. He told them that the implications of the proposed budget cuts appear more serious than previously thought, and that the bulk are to be “imposed strictly on payroll” and monitored on a monthly basis.

While the Irish Universities Association is preparing a robust response ahead of a meeting with the minister next month, the president told colleagues it is necessary to take steps to protect NUI Maynooth from the consequences of the cuts being fully implemented.

“This [freeze] includes posts for which interviews have been held but where recommended appointments have not yet been approved,” wrote Prof Hughes, acknowledging the difficulties the policy will cause across the university.

It applies to permanent and fixed-term posts except those which are externally funded, and scheduled job interviews can go ahead but successful candidates are not to be informed except with the president’s approval.

The other universities have not yet made any moves in direct response to the pay cut order, but one source suggested last night that other possible measures could include proposing a 3% pay cut for staff next year, withholding annual salary increases, or cutting part-time staff numbers.

But with an average turnover of staff up to 10% annually due to retirements and job transfers, the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) said that recruitment freezes would have an immediate and devastating effect on college students.

“They have been protected from previous funding cuts by lecturers stretching themselves and their resources.

“But the Government’s latest payroll orders are going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” said general secretary Mike Jennings.