The University of Westminster plans to make huge job cuts after a successive year of under enrolment of students.

In April, management made a statement to the trade unions that there will be large-scale redundancies due to a lack of undergraduate applications.

The university is asking staff to volunteer to resign in return for a lump sum payment and the signing of a settlement agreement. It is now planned that student numbers will drop from 13,000 to 10,000 from now until 2021. Senior management held a series of meetings on Thursday at which they attempted to outline the current situation.

Geoffrey Davies, the teaching member of the Court of Governors at the university, stated that, “I think a large portion of the problems which we face have been caused as a result of the Vice Chancellor and senior management failing to realize the enormity of the problems.” The former head of mass communication and journalism at the university also stated that, “…with falling birth rates and low satisfaction levels, courses should have been cut a lot earlier than now as this would have been a much more effective and calm way to cut costs.”