Scope and Redundancies

The Transformation Programme is split into different aspects, the main ones being: 

1. Cost-savings - Reducing Goldsmiths' cost base including changes impacting staff and staffing structures for both Academic and Professional Services 

2. Academic Department Restructure - Restructuring Goldsmiths' Academic Departments from 3 schools and 18 departments to 2 faculties and 8 schools, with schools being a possible grouping of ‘subjects’. Departments as they are today will no longer exist. 

3. Portfolio Simplification - Revising Goldsmiths' portfolio of Programmes and Modules to simplify, which could entail module reduction and/or programme closures 

4. Professional Services Transformation - Involves reviewing Goldsmiths' overall operating model and a review of student facing and academic support services to design and deliver changes to processes, academic policies and procedures, and enabling IT systems

Additionally, on Thursday 28 February 2024, senior management served campus trade unions notice of their intention to make compulsory redundancies equivalent to 130 full time jobs.

Given that so many academic staff at Goldsmiths are employed on fractional/part time contracts, it is safe to assume that these redundancies will impact far more than 130 members of staff.

Last year’s financial statement shows that Goldsmiths employs 644 academic staff members, and so these redundancies could impact as much as a quarter of all teaching & research staff.

This comes at the same time as the above 4 aspects of the Transformation Programme remains still in development, with no transparency in crucial details such as how exactly the new academic department structure will be implemented, which modules and programmes will be ‘simplified’ or simply cut, and how crucial student rights, services and standards of support provision will be maintained. 

SMT have also outlined the departments that are ‘in scope’ of these job cuts. They are: 

• Anthropology 

• Educational Studies 

• English and Creative Writing (ECW) 

• History 

• Music 

• Politics & International Relations 

• Psychology 

• Social, Therapeutic & Community Studies (STaCS) 

• Sociology 

• Theatre & Performance (TaP) 

• Visual Cultures

As we have seen before, this shows a repetitive financial-first, hierarchical positioning towards departments and pedagogies which does not align with the Goldsmiths community and, indeed, what Goldsmiths is marketed as. 

The SU and campus trade unions have consistently called for a holistic assessment of the Transformation Programme and a review of the effects of the previous Recovery Programme.

The SU has also put several demands to the College in a detailed and data-backed document to support and champion student rights and experience, but none of these have been taken onboard.

We have also been told before that they do not understand or recognise how demands such as automatic extensions would be necessary.

This attitude, which uses a language of ‘high-level’ and ‘strategy’, masks a deplorable disregard for the community and experiences on the ground. We remind management and members of Council that in addition to a duty to the institution, you possess a duty to the community.

These decisions do not reflect meaningful engagement with the community, nor does it evidence the institution’s commitment to its own mission and values whether in the short or long term.

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