School of Design<\/a>, which includes the architecture department and is based at a Heneghan Peng-designed building in Greenwich town centre, was expected to be one of the worst-hit departments. Within architecture, the AJ understands 50 of the 70 teaching staff were set to be made redundant, with 20 then hired back.<\/p>\nA letter, seen by the AJ, heavily criticising the plans was sent to senior management and signed by more than 30 teaching staff in the architecture school. Describing the plans as \u2018hugely damaging to the faculty and its students\u2019, the letter includes calculations that suggest the proposals will reduce student teaching time by 40 per cent.<\/p>\n
It had warned that the reduction in staff-to-student ratios could mean the courses could come under scrutiny from accrediting bodies such as the RIBA and the Architects\u2019 Registration Board (ARB). \u2018There is a real risk that affected courses will lose their accredited status or be put on to special measures,\u2019 it said.<\/p>\n
Explaining the rationale for axing HPLs, the consultation said that while the casual lecturers had played an \u2018important role\u2019 in providing specialist teaching and cover for sickness absence, they had also been used to \u2018meet core teaching needs\u2019.<\/p>\n
It added: \u2018The faculty considers that, however able and committed individual HPLs are, it is important that core teaching should be provided by members of staff with a longer-term commitment to, and stake in, the university.\u2019<\/p>\n
A Greenwich University spokesperson at the time said that although the proposed loss of the 300 roles \u2018sound[ed] large\u2019 many of those staff \u2018work a relatively small number of hours per year for us\u2019 with some providing \u2018just a few guest lectures per year\u2019.<\/p>\n
Most of those affected, the university claims, were those employed on fixed-term contacts, due to end last month, although the consultation document states that there were 66 HPLs in the faculty who are \u2018considered permanent employees\u2019 and whose contracts are not set to expire.<\/p>\n
The university added that its average total staff numbers in 2024 was 3,052 and that the overall number of HPLs was 244, explaining that this equated \u2018to approximately 30 full-time staff\u2019.<\/p>\n
They told the AJ in May: \u2018Like many universities across the UK, the University of Greenwich is facing significant financial challenges outside of our control. These challenges affect the amount of cash we hold, which is what we use to pay our staff and our bills.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson concluded: \u2018We know that this will feel like a difficult message, but it is essential that we take sensible and proportionate action now to ensure that we continue to be able to offer high-quality teaching and an outstanding student experience.\u2019<\/p>\n
In relation to the suspensions, the university said it would \u2018never respond to questions asking for detailed personal information in relation to staff members\u2019.<\/p>\n
The AJ has contacted Herron but has not received a response.<\/p>\n
The latest revelations come as Greenwich and Kent unveiled plans to merge<\/a> to form the UK\u2019s first \u2018super-university\u2019 \u2013 a single institution under the name South East University Group, with one vice-chancellor taking power from the start of the 2026 academic year.<\/p>\nThe two universities have combined student numbers of nearly 47,000.<\/p>\n
The vice chancellors of both institutions told the BBC that the merger had not come as a result of financial pressure, and insisted that it should not be considered a takeover of either university by the other.<\/p>\n
Greenwich and Kent describe the plan as an \u2018intention to formally collaborate\u2019 under a new model which will bring \u2018both universities under one structure\u2019 while enabling each to \u2018retain its name, identity and local presence\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to insiders, three senior members in the school of design, including academic portfolio lead in architecture Simon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-130062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}