As researchers at the University of California system cope with unpaid leave, it looks like the troubles for higher education will soon stretch to this side of the pond. The University and College Union (UCU), the UK’s largest postgraduate Union, has made a grim prediction of massive layoffs at London universities.

The UCU predicts that over 2,000 jobs are “at risk” at 18 institutions across London. Of particular concern to scientists are a possible 130 jobs at Imperial College’s faculty of medicine, and a possible 530 job cuts at University College London (right). The UCU is highly critical of the possible cuts: “Most of these universities and colleges are not in financial crisis”, they’ve written in their statement. “Nobody is saying that the sector in the capital is awash with money but the fact is that universities and colleges in the capital are in relatively good financial health.”

That may be true at the moment, but universities in Britain are heavily dependant on government funding—funding which is expected to be cut back dramatically in coming years as the recession deepens. “Public spending is already tight and all the signs are that it is likely to get tighter yet,” says Dominique Fourniol, a spokesperson at University College London. “It is likely that we will see a decrease in our income in the next few years, requiring us to reduce our spending.”

Fourniol confirmed that UCL is looking to reduce spending by 6%, but he says it’s “not a simple question” of lopping 6% off the current staffing level. A spokesperson at Imperial similarly said that the college “is making every effort to avoid compulsory redundancies” at the faculty of medicine.

Unlike the situation at the University of California, which is very immediate, it seems that researchers at London’s universities have to wait and see just how bad the pain from the current financial crisis will be.

Image: Wikipedia