Eminent professor says axing 120 jobs will damage King's College's reputation

Eminent Professor of Psychiatry, Sir Robin Murray, has called on the management of King's College London to reverse plans to make 120 academic staff redundant, which he says will damage the institution's reputation.

In his article, Sir Robin criticises King's College's financial judgement and says that other Russell Group universities are not axing staff, despite financial pressures. He questions why King's is resorting to compulsory redundancies for the second time in just five years, highlighting that in its 50 years as an independent organisation, the Institute of Psychiatry never had to make mass redundancies.

King's College London has announced it will make 120 staff redundant across the Institute of Psychiatry, School of Biomedical Science and School of Medicine. King's intends to rank academics on the basis of their research grant income and teaching hours and to issue notices of dismissal by 15 August.

No prior consultation has taken place with students or staff, who have been offered only the legal minimum of 45 days to contest the proposals. Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at King's are being balloted for industrial action. The ballot closes on Wednesday.

Sir Robin Murray also argues that cutting staff to save money will be counterproductive for the university as it will end up with fewer staff who are capable of generating income through research. He had seen this happen in the previous round of redundancies when tenured staff were so dismayed they left, while younger staff took their Fellowships elsewhere.

He quotes a colleague who says that although they will not be at risk of redundancy, they are still considering leaving King's. He says that redundancy situations damage the reputation of the institution, making it difficult to recruit first-rate academics.

Sir Robin Murray said: 'Compulsory redundancies damage the reputation of an institution and make it very difficult to recruit first-rate academics. Adverse financial pressures are affecting many universities. However, other Russell Group institutions have not generally adopted the drastic action proposed by King's College.

'This raises two questions. First how did King's management get themselves into this mess? Any competent university asks its finances officers to make projections for the medium term, as well as the year ahead. Either the Health School financial projections were inaccurate or they were not acted on in time to avoid the present crisis.

'The second question is why were other remedies such as freezing posts, seeking voluntary redundancies or seeking help from other financially stronger parts of Kings College London not tried first, before leaping into compulsory redundancies?

'It is not too late to stop, or at least ameliorate, this self-destructive policy, and seek a more constructive solution to the current financial difficulties.'