University of Aberdeen staff have launched another ten days of strikes following ongoing disagreements over plans to cut jobs.
The latest round of industrial action began on the 13th and is set to last until 15th April. Further walkouts are planned from the 22nd to 24th April, and again from 27th April to 1st May.
With University and College Union (UCU) staff having also been on strike for 4 days in March, the university and its students have had a total of 14 days disrupted during the spring term.
In a vote to determine whether strike action should be taken, 83% UCU members voted in favour with a 60% turnout.
In addition to walkouts, the staff are also conducting action short of a strike by working only to their contract and declining to perform any voluntary duties.
The decision to take industrial action comes as the university plans to cut jobs and refuses to rule out the possibility of compulsory redundancies. The union states that staff have also had the opportunity of academic promotion frozen.
These proposed measures are part of a plan to save £12m over the next two years as the institution faces a multi-million -pound financial deficit. It was announced in February this year that these savings were necessary to break even by 2027/28, if additional income could not be generated.
Despite savings of £5.5m made in 2025, that saw 41 staff accept a voluntary severance scheme, a further 200 jobs may still be at risk.
In a statement, the co-chair of the Aberdeen UCU branch, Dan Cutts said, ‘March is a busy time at the university and the very last thing staff want to be doing is going on strike for four days. It’s not too late to end this dispute and stop staff and students facing the inevitable disruption a strike will bring. We’re ready to sit down to serious talks and to negotiate an end to this dispute, and work with the employer to avoid the need for compulsory redundancies.’
From the picket line, Anthropology professor Martin Mills said, ‘I’m here to ensure this university thrives and survives. In the 40 years that I’ve been an academic, I’ve seen universities ran into the ground by bad economic thinking that treats students like customers and staff like fungible resources. We were promised these reforms would make these places far more financially resilient and that has not happened.’
The university has said that it is committed to prioritising staff redeployment to avoid redundancies where possible and will reschedule classes to staff not participating in the strikes to mitigate student disruption.
The financial hardship at the University of Aberdeen reflects an ongoing crisis within the higher education sector in Scotland. With tuition fees stagnating despite increased inflation costs and declining numbers of international students, universities across the country are facing deepening financial pressures.
