Cardiff University 400 job cuts ‘threaten supply of nurses’

Job cuts at Cardiff University threaten the supply of nurses in Welsh health boards, a union leader has warned.

The university has confirmed plans to cut 400 full-time jobs amid a funding shortfall, with proposals involving course closures, and department mergers, with nursing, music and modern languages among the subjects facing cuts.

Helen Whyley, executive director of the Royal College of Nursing Wales, told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast the proposals were “worrying.”

Cardiff University said no “final decisions” had been made regarding the proposals, and there would be “no immediate impact” on nursing students.

Lecturers have begun receiving letters advising them their post is at risk and offering links to support – although the university has said it would only make compulsory redundancies “if absolutely necessary”.

Ms Whyley said the university has a “significant pipeline” in delivering nurses to health boards in south Wales, describing it as “one of our largest providers” with more than 1,000 students.

“It doesn’t take a mathematician to work out the students that come through Cardiff University are a very important contribution into that pipeline,” she said.

Ms Whyley said hospitals in Wales were short of 2,000 nurses, and while that number was decreasing, hospitals are “still in a very difficult position”.

A Cardiff University spokesperson said there was “still a great deal of detail to work through before any decisions are made”.

“In the short term, there will be no immediate impact on nursing students or their ability to complete their studies,” they said, adding that it was “acutely aware” of its role in delivering healthcare professionals in Wales and was “actively consulting with all stakeholders”.

It is also a worrying time for the university’s prospective students as today marks the UCAS equal consideration deadline.

However, Courteney Sheppard, from UCAS, said students “can still apply to university or college after today” as long as the courses remain open.

She urged students to speak to the university directly if they are concerned about a particular course.

A Cardiff University spokesperson also said programmes for 2025/2026 would continue and that it was “committed to an intake for the coming academic year”.

• Ancient history and religion
• Theology
• Nursing
• Music
• Modern languages

• Chemistry, earth sciences and physics merged to create the School of Natural Sciences
• Computer science and maths merged to become the School of Data Science
• Social sciences, geography and planning merged to become the School of Human and Social Sciences
• English, communication and philosophy, Welsh and remaining elements of history, archaeology and religion and modern languages merged into the School of Global Humanities

Fflur James, a second-year student studying French and Welsh, said she and her classmates in the modern languages department faced “uncertainty”.

“I was in a French class and the teacher said she had to leave early to go to a meeting that would determine the demise of the school,” she said.

“Everyone in my class looked at each other in surprise.

“The uncertainty is the biggest thing and the thing that worries me.

“I’m not sure where this leaves me. I hope that I’ll graduate here at Cardiff University, but of course that uncertainty is still around us.”

Enlli, a Year 13 student from Ysgol Bro Myrddin, in Carmarthenshire, is hoping to study music in Cardiff University in September.

She said it was “shocking” to find out about the cuts the night before the UCAS deadline.

“It’s so uncertain about our futures, what we want to do next in our lives.”

Siwan is another prospective student feeling anxious about the news.

She is hoping to study Law and Welsh at the university in September, and while there are no immediate threats for those subjects, Welsh as a department is going to be merged with seven other subjects ​​to create the School of Global Humanities.

“It just makes me worry that Welsh will maybe be less important at Cardiff because it is in such a larger department now.

“Obviously in Wales lots of people go to study Welsh because it’s such an important part of their identity, so it’s incredibly important that that doesn’t happen.”

Siwan added that the announcement raises questions about whether there are more cuts going to come.

“It’s just uncertainty and complete shock that its happened at such a big university.”

Sector body Universities UK said universities have been doing “more with less for years”.

“The sector desperately needs a funding rethink, starting with a guarantee from government that the recent rise will continue to be matched to inflation, not just a one-off increase,” it said in a statement.

On Tuesday Vice-Chancellor Professor Wendy Larner said the university would have become “untenable” without drastic reforms.

She said the job role cuts were only a proposal, but insisted the university had to “take difficult decisions” amid declining international student applications and increasing cost pressures, and most UK universities were grappling with a “broken” funding system.

In recent years, most of Wales’ eight institutions have been seeking voluntary redundancies and making cuts, citing similar challenges to institutions in the rest of the UK.

Since September 2023, Swansea University has confirmed that 342 staff have left or are leaving under its voluntary scheme.

It will have to increase the level of savings it needs to make by £30m by 2026-27, but a spokesperson told Newyddion S4C it is confident it can avoid compulsory redundancies.

Aberystwyth University has confirmed that 101 staff have left through voluntary redundancy, while Bangor says it cannot confirm yet how many staff will be leaving under its scheme but more than 100 vacant posts have been closed.

At the University of South Wales just over 100 staff have left voluntarily but it’s currently consulting on proposals to cut 160 jobs in non-academic professional services roles.

Cardiff Metropolitan University says 60 staff have left so far under voluntary severance with another scheme ongoing.

Figures for staff leaving the University of Wales Trinity St David are currently low, at around 26, but its recent decision to stop undergraduate teaching at its Lampeter campus was another example of pressures in the sector.

Politicians were due to speak about the cuts in the Senedd on Wednesday.

“What has particularly alarmed me is the cuts being proposed to their nursing course,” said Tory education spokeswoman Natasha Asghar.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster spokesperson David Chadwick said the UK government’s “increase to national insurance” is having an impact on the proposed job losses.

Plaid Cymru education spokesperson Cefin Campbell said the news of Cardiff job cuts was met with “deafening silence” by the Welsh government.

A Welsh government spokesperson said it was “very disappointed that nursing courses form part of these proposals” and that it was “working urgently” to ensure the same number of nurses were trained in Wales.