LONDON: A UK university specializing in the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East has been forced to slash costs and implement drastic staff cuts after the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic exacerbated its financial problems.
Staff at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), part of the University of London, said they feared that management was cutting costs to make the college an attractive takeover target for an overseas institution or one of its London rivals, UK newspaper the Guardian reported.
Latest figures show that the internationally renowned higher education institution has multi-million pound deficits and risks running out of cash next year.
The effects of the pandemic on student recruitment meant “a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the school’s ability to continue as a going concern” over the next 12 months, SOAS’s auditors warned.
One academic at SOAS told the Guardian that the college’s senior managers had “been unable to make significant changes over the last few years, and now it has ended in a big crisis. This is a serious failure of management.”
Its senior academics were ordered to identify staff cuts that were to be submitted on Friday, and departments were asked to balance their budgets while expecting a 50 percent drop in new international students, the report said.
SOAS’s International Foundation Courses and English Language Studies Center, which provides courses to international students, has reportedly been told to make so many cuts that it will effectively disappear, along with its 55 staff.
The college’s highly regarded international development department, which is ranked eighth in the world, will also suffer from major cuts. Its famed anthropology and sociology department is likely to lose between a third and half of its academic staff.
“I think people are in shock,” a staff member said. “This all happened while we are still coping with COVID-19.”
SOAS released a statement on Friday saying the coronavirus pandemic had affected all British universities and that it was “taking decisive action now so that we can continue to ensure we provide an excellent student experience to our new and returning students.”
It acknowledged that although its “accounts show that SOAS has already taken steps to reduce its deficit position,” the “impact of COVID-19 has put finances across the HE sector under even greater pressure than before.”
It added that it had taken short term action to reduce costs including “pausing capital spend, line by line scrutiny of non-pay budgets” and reducing the use of building space in the Bloomsbury area in London, outside its core campus.
SOAS also said that additional proposals for change were being considered and would be implemented ahead of the start of the new academic year in September.
SOAS, University of London, has been ranked in the UK’s top 20 universities for Arts and Humanities, according to the 2020 Times Higher Education World University Ranking.
The rankings place SOAS 13th in the UK and 57th in the world.
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UK university SOAS to cut costs over COVID-19 and financial problems
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UK university SOAS to cut costs over COVID-19 and financial problems
- Latest figures show that the internationally renowned higher education institution has multi-million pound deficits and risks running out of cash next year
- SOAS said that it had taken short term action to reduce costs
Greenland’s parties say they don’t want to be under US
NUUK: Greenland’s political parties said they did not want to be under Washington as US President Donald Trump again suggested using force to seize the mineral-rich Danish autonomous territory, raising concern worldwide.
The statement late Friday came after Trump repeated that Washington was “going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.”
European capitals have been scrambling to come up with a coordinated response after the White House said this week that Trump wanted to buy Greenland and refused to rule out military action.
“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danish, we want to be Greenlanders,” the leaders of five parties in Greenland’s parliament said.
“The future of Greenland must be decided by Greenlanders.”
“No other country can meddle in this. We must decide our country’s future ourselves — without pressure to make a hasty decision, without procrastination, and without interference from other countries,” they underscored.
Denmark and other European allies have voiced shock at Trump’s threats on Greenland, a strategic island between North America and the Arctic where the United States has had a military base since World War II.
Trump says controlling the island is crucial for US national security given the rising military activity of Russia and China in the Arctic.
“We’re not going to have Russia or China occupy Greenland. That’s what they’re going to do if we don’t. So we’re going to be doing something with Greenland, either the nice way or the more difficult way,” the US president said Friday.
Both Russia and China have increased military activity in the region in recent years, but neither has laid any claim to the vast icy island.
- Vast natural resources -
Greenland has also attracted international attention in recent years for its vast natural resources including rare earth minerals and estimates that it could possess huge oil and gas reserves.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an invasion of Greenland would end “everything,” meaning the transatlantic NATO defense pact and the post-World War II security structure.
Trump has made light of the concerns of Denmark, a steadfast US ally that joined the United States in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“I’m a fan of Denmark, too, I have to tell you. And you know, they’ve been very nice to me,” Trump said.
“But you know, the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn’t mean that they own the land.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to meet next week with Denmark’s foreign minister and representatives from Greenland.
A US invasion would pit Washington against fellow NATO member Denmark and threaten to blow up the entire military alliance, which is based on a mutual self-defense clause.
A flurry of diplomacy is under way as Europeans try to head off a crisis while at the same time avoiding the wrath of Trump, who is nearing the end of his first year back in power.
Trump had offered to buy Greenland in 2019 during his first presidential term but was rebuffed.
The head of NATO’s forces in Europe, US General Alexus Grynkewich, said Friday the military alliance was far from being in “a crisis,” following Trump’s threats to bring Greenland under US control.
“There’s been no impact on my work at the military level up to this point... I would just say that we’re ready to defend every inch of alliance territory still today,” Grynkewich said.
“So I see us as far from being in a crisis right now,” he added.
The statement late Friday came after Trump repeated that Washington was “going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.”
European capitals have been scrambling to come up with a coordinated response after the White House said this week that Trump wanted to buy Greenland and refused to rule out military action.
“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danish, we want to be Greenlanders,” the leaders of five parties in Greenland’s parliament said.
“The future of Greenland must be decided by Greenlanders.”
“No other country can meddle in this. We must decide our country’s future ourselves — without pressure to make a hasty decision, without procrastination, and without interference from other countries,” they underscored.
Denmark and other European allies have voiced shock at Trump’s threats on Greenland, a strategic island between North America and the Arctic where the United States has had a military base since World War II.
Trump says controlling the island is crucial for US national security given the rising military activity of Russia and China in the Arctic.
“We’re not going to have Russia or China occupy Greenland. That’s what they’re going to do if we don’t. So we’re going to be doing something with Greenland, either the nice way or the more difficult way,” the US president said Friday.
Both Russia and China have increased military activity in the region in recent years, but neither has laid any claim to the vast icy island.
- Vast natural resources -
Greenland has also attracted international attention in recent years for its vast natural resources including rare earth minerals and estimates that it could possess huge oil and gas reserves.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an invasion of Greenland would end “everything,” meaning the transatlantic NATO defense pact and the post-World War II security structure.
Trump has made light of the concerns of Denmark, a steadfast US ally that joined the United States in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“I’m a fan of Denmark, too, I have to tell you. And you know, they’ve been very nice to me,” Trump said.
“But you know, the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn’t mean that they own the land.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to meet next week with Denmark’s foreign minister and representatives from Greenland.
A US invasion would pit Washington against fellow NATO member Denmark and threaten to blow up the entire military alliance, which is based on a mutual self-defense clause.
A flurry of diplomacy is under way as Europeans try to head off a crisis while at the same time avoiding the wrath of Trump, who is nearing the end of his first year back in power.
Trump had offered to buy Greenland in 2019 during his first presidential term but was rebuffed.
The head of NATO’s forces in Europe, US General Alexus Grynkewich, said Friday the military alliance was far from being in “a crisis,” following Trump’s threats to bring Greenland under US control.
“There’s been no impact on my work at the military level up to this point... I would just say that we’re ready to defend every inch of alliance territory still today,” Grynkewich said.
“So I see us as far from being in a crisis right now,” he added.
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