Union blasts £150m medical school vision

ACADEMICS QUESTION ‘SCALE AND TIMING OF EXPENDITURE’

- By JOSHUA HARTLEY

CASH-STRAPPED University of Nottingham has been criticised for plotting a new £150 million medical school while planning hundreds of job losses.

Academics from the University and College Union, who oppose the drastic spending and job cuts planned by the university, have claimed that the struggling institution intends to make hundreds of staff redundant so it can pay for a replacement for its current medical school at the Queen’s Medical Centre.

The Russell Group university is expected to borrow £100 million and use £50 million from its surplus to build the new school in 2026/27, the union said.

The UCU has questioned the timing of such a huge investment by the university, which in April said it planned to cut more than 300 professional service jobs after bosses concluded a £40 million spending reduction would not be enough to protect it from a drop in lucrative international students and a steep rise in costs.