More than 100 jobs at risk at UU Magee campus, MLA says

Over 100 jobs are at risk at Ulster University's (UU) Magee campus in Londonderry, according to an SDLP MLA.

Sinéad McLaughlin, who is the party's economy spokesperson, outlined the figures during question time in the assembly.

The university is set to make up to 450 staff redundant, blaming a financial deficit of around £25m.

A spokesperson for the university said the proposed job cuts is a proposed voluntary scheme so "it is impossible to determine the number of staff who may apply from each campus until the scheme closes".

Speaking in the assembly chamber, McLaughlin said job losses would include 221 redundancies at the UU campus in Belfast, 114 in Coleraine, 108 in Magee and seven in Jordanstown.

Around 1,500 staff currently work at UU's Belfast campus while almost 800 people are employed at Coleraine. The Magee campus in Derry has almost 750 staff, while close to 50 staff are currently based at Jordanstown.

McLaughlin called the cuts "a major crisis in higher education," and asked the Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald what she was doing to "rescue" the sector?

Archibald replied that it would be "a very worrying time for staff and my thoughts are with them and their families as they face that uncertainty".

But she said that she was working to deliver a budget that would include a "sustainable further and higher education sector".

"Like all other departments, the financial position facing my own department is extremely challenging," Archibald said.

"And the executive has been very clear about that, we've repeatedly warned that our finances are unsustainable."

She said the cuts outlined by UU were "a real-world consequence of the executive not being funded to its level of need".

But McLaughlin said there was "genuine shock" at the job cuts and she was particularly concerned at the 108 jobs at risk at Magee.

"How can you stand over your executive and your commitment to expand Magee at the same time as collapsing the workforce?" she asked the minister.

A spokesperson for UU said that employers must notify the government in advance of potential redundancies and specify the locations.

"As a multi‑campus institution, the university provided notionally and proportionally-allocated figures for each site based on current staffing at each," they added.

The Magee campus has 6,500 students with a target to reach 10,000 by 2032.

Archibald replied that there was a "lack of investment coming from the British government" for further and higher education.

"Magee and the expansion of Magee is an executive priority," she said.

Archibald also said that her department had invested £35m in Magee and that had led to a 22% rise in student numbers at the campus.

In 2024, a taskforce was established to develop and oversee an action plan to expand the campus in Derry.