THE University of Chester has warned staff that up to 25 jobs could go despite raising student tuition fees to the maximum £9,000 a year.

Vice chancellor professor Tim Wheeler says the proposed reorganisation at its Chester and Warrington campuses is due to funding cuts, inflationary pressures and the anticipated fall in student numbers

It could potentially affect lecturers, researchers and support staff in the departments of applied sciences, arts and media, student support and guidance and facilities management.

Prof Wheeler said: “If these proposals are ultimately implemented, up to 25 posts may be lost due to redundancy. To set this in context, this would represent 1.4% of the total 1,806 staff.”

However, prof Wheeler, who earns £190,000 a year, hopes most of the changes can be absorbed through redeployments, voluntary redundancies and retirements.

Prof Wheeler said at the moment the university, which has 15,800 students, received 25,000 applications for just 2,500 places each year, meaning the university was well placed to cope with any fall in demand which may result from next year’s increase in tuition fees.

He said a key driver was the need to build on the university’s reputation for producing employable graduates which would mean ‘becoming more vocational’ in the type of courses offered.

Prof Wheeler added: “The university regrets these necessary developments, which are aimed at ensuring in particular areas that staffing resource is more appropriate to the activity provided, or income generated to support it, is secure for the foreseeable future. Every effort will be made to explore redeployment options which may be available, and voluntary severance will be sought, where possible.”