University of Nottingham

The following petitions are created by students and/or staff at the University. While they are not UCU initiatives, we encourage you to sign!

American and Canadian Studies

Agriculture*

Education

Food Science*

Health Sciences (including Mental Health Nursing)

Modern Languages

Microbiology*

Music

Plant Biology*

Theology

* Consider also signing the open letter to the VC regarding closure of Bioscience courses. Download and read the open letter here.

This comes as a result of the Vice Chancellor’s failure to rule out compulsory redundancies. The University is now moving towards Phase Two of the Future Nottingham “restructuring” plan, which threatens staff both in Research & Teaching and APM roles while significantly worsening the quality of education at the University and applying additional pressure to staff by;

• “Suspending” 48 courses. These measures will effectively end the Music, Modern Languages, and American and Canadian Studies departments, and significantly reduce Nursing courses.
• Centralising Administrative, Professional and Managerial (APM) Services
• Replacing 5 faculties with 3 “colleges”, and 28 schools reduced to 10. 
• The threat of compulsory redundancies to accommodate these useless and unnecessary changes.

The branch voted with a 91% majority to reject the Vice Chancellor’s “offer” which contained did not commit to no compulsory redundancies. Membership also voted to prioritise industrial action this semester.

Students may be interested in our series of teachouts over this period, and check out our padlet for more information!

In autumn 2023, a significant deficit of +£30m was identified, with spending controls then introduced across the University. Seeing the writing on the wall, in December 2023, a UoN UCU branch meeting passed a motion to oppose redundancies at the University. 

VC Shearer West announces that she is leaving Nottingham to take the VC role at the University of Leeds. We also began to hear about Future Nottingham in 2024. During the autumn semester the Chief Financial Officer and the Head of HR also depart. Shearer West was replaced by Jane Norman as VC in January 2025

In autumn 2024, UoN UCU developed and circulated an Alternate Financial Strategy 2.0 that identifies steps that can be taken to address the financial situation without targeting jobs. By the end of the financial year, the University had reported spending £12.1m on severance through MARS as part of an overall £17m loss.

In March 2025, a meeting of the UCU UoN branch passed a further ‘no compulsory redundancies’ motion which resolved to declare a dispute over the refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies.

In April 2025, the University announced ‘Phase 1’ of the Future Nottingham programme. Over 3900 APM staff received notice of risk of redundancy, with 258 administrative/professional services roles to be made redundant, with a further 98 vacant posts not replaced. Staff can apply for voluntary redundancy, with compulsory redundancies to follow if savings targets are not met. Later in April, an indicative e-ballot of UoN UCU members demonstrates that the majority are willing to take strike action to defend jobs. 

In May 2025, the official paper ballot of UoN UCU began which resulted in 72% coming out in favour of strike action, and 84% for action short of strike. On 24th July 2025 UoN UCU took one day of strike action, followed by continuous action short of strike.

The University lost 100s (exact number not yet reported) of APM staff through the voluntary redundancy scheme by October 2025.

By September 2025 the branch still received no commitment to compulsory redundancies. Members went on strike for two weeks beginning 22nd September, covering welcome week and the first week of teaching. The VC met with the Branch Executive during this period and offered very little.

In response to the threats both to their jobs and the University as a whole, members voted to continue strike action for a further two weeks beginning 13th October.