Staff at the University of the Highlands and Islands have embarked on the first of four planned strike days in a dispute over compulsory redundancies that reflects growing financial turmoil across Scotland’s higher education sector.
Members of the University and College Union walked out on Thursday 30 October, with further action scheduled for 5, 17 and 18 November. The industrial action follows a ballot in which 71 per cent of members backed strikes on an 82 per cent turnout—one of the strongest mandates seen in recent higher education disputes.
The dispute centres on UHI management’s plans to make 16 positions redundant at the university’s executive office in Inverness as part of measures to save between £2 million and £3 million. Union sources indicate that ten staff members have already been served notice of compulsory redundancy, with another two under consultation.
Financial Pressures Mount Across Scottish Tertiary Education
The cuts at UHI form part of a broader pattern of financial distress affecting Scotland’s colleges and universities. According to recent Scottish Funding Council data, the sector experienced a 20 per cent real-terms reduction in funding between 2021-22 and 2025-26. Nine universities reported adjusted operating deficits in academic year 2023-24, with the sector’s collective underlying operating surplus plummeting 92 per cent in one year—from £211.7 million in 2022-23 to just £17.2 million in 2023-24.
UHI’s own financial accounts for the year ending 31 July 2024 showed a surplus before other gains and losses of £4.6 million, compared to £700,000 in 2022-23. However, several of UHI’s academic partner colleges have reported operating cash deficits, with multiple institutions requiring additional liquidity support from the Scottish Funding Council.
The financial landscape has been complicated by a 12 per cent drop in international student enrolments across Scottish universities – from 83,975 in 2022-23 to 73,915 in 2023-24 – costing the sector an estimated £150 million. This decline is particularly significant as international students, who pay between £10,000 and £40,000 annually compared to the £1,820 notional fee for Scottish students, have become crucial for cross-subsidising domestic teaching and research.
Executive Office Restructuring and Transformation Agenda
The contested redundancies target UHI’s executive office, which delivers strategy, governance, academic quality standards and support functions for the wider UHI partnership. The executive office works alongside UHI’s network of ten colleges and specialist partners spanning the Highlands and Islands, Moray and Perthshire.
This is the second round of compulsory redundancies at the executive office within two years, following previous restructuring in 2023 that aimed to reduce costs by £4 million through a mixture of staff and non-staff savings. The latest cuts come as UHI pursues its ambitious 2030 Strategic Plan, which commits the partnership to “think, plan and act as one” through increased integration and operational streamlining.
Vicki Nairn, UHI’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor since March 2024, has defended the restructuring as necessary to ensure long-term financial sustainability. Nairn, who previously served as Vice Principal Corporate Operations at Robert Gordon University and advised the Scottish Government on remote and rural issues, joined UHI in November 2021 and was appointed to the permanent principal role after serving as interim leader since October 2022.
Conchúr Ó Giollagáin, UCU UHI branch president, said: “Taking strike action is always a last resort, but the strength of feeling against management’s poorly conceived plans have left staff with no choice”. He added: “Staff and students both know that these proposals are harming our students and risking the future of the university”.
Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said: “It’s appalling that UHI management continue to press ahead with cuts and job losses including using compulsory redundancies”. She added: “After recent cuts, staff workloads are already sky-high and the loss of more jobs will make a difficult situation even worse. Students know who’s to blame for the disruption strikes will cause and I’d urge the principal, even at the last minute, to take the steps necessary to end the dispute”.
The union has questioned the financial calculations underpinning the redundancies, arguing that 16 posts will not deliver £2 million in savings and warning of further job losses ahead. UCU also emphasises that UHI has experienced five rounds of voluntary severance or redundancy programmes over the past five years.
A spokesperson for UHI said: “We understand that members of UCU plan to take industrial action in response to proposed redundancies within our executive office”. The spokesperson continued: “We recognise that this is a challenging and uncertain time for colleagues, and we have engaged in extensive and constructive dialogue to explore all possible alternatives. Unfortunately, no viable options have been identified that would deliver the level of financial sustainability the university requires”.
The university stated: “Our priority remains safeguarding students’ learning experiences and ensuring the long-term strength and contribution of the university to the regions we serve”. Management emphasised: “We are committed to minimising any disruption to students and will continue to take steps to mitigate the impact of this action”.
UHI’s position reflects challenges facing the executive office specifically, with the institution noting in previous communications that it has held “constructive discussions” with UCU since the strike ballot but has been unable to identify viable alternative options for making the savings needed to balance the budget.
UK Universities Face “Perfect Storm”
The UHI dispute is part of what Universities Scotland has described as a “perfect storm” of funding pressures bearing down on Scottish universities. The amount of public funding invested in every Scottish undergraduate place was 22 per cent less in 2024-25 than in 2013-14, with the £1,820 tuition fee per student having remained unchanged since the 2009-10 academic year.
Across the UK, universities have collectively announced more than 12,000 job cuts in the last year, with additional cost-saving measures potentially representing another 3,000 positions. In England, 43 per cent of institutions are projected to operate at a deficit during the 2024-25 academic year, with approximately 40 per cent of UK universities currently experiencing significant financial distress.
Recent months have seen major strike activity planned at various Scottish Universities, including Dundee and RGU in Aberdeen. Edinburgh University staff have also backed further industrial action in a long-standing dispute over cuts that the union estimates could affect up to 1,800 full-time-equivalent jobs.
UHI occupies a unique position in Scotland’s tertiary education landscape as the country’s only tertiary university partnership, delivering both further and higher education, research and knowledge exchange across 48 locations throughout a region spanning two-thirds of Scotland. In 2023, UHI was rated sixth in Scotland for undergraduate satisfaction and first in Scotland for postgraduate satisfaction for the third consecutive year.
Looking Ahead
With no resolution in sight and three further strike days scheduled for November, the dispute threatens to prolong disruption for students at a crucial point in the academic year. The standoff also highlights fundamental tensions in Scottish higher education policy—where aspirations for increased access and regional provision collide with constrained public funding and volatile international student markets.
