Debate contribution: Ulster University: Potential Job Losses

Debate contribution by Mr Maurice Bradley on 20 April 2026.

MLA: Mr Maurice Bradley
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 20 April 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Matter of the Day
Heading: Ulster University: Potential Job Losses
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5493155

Text

I support Ulster University. My thoughts are with the staff who are under threat of redundancy at the minute. Ulster University has now confirmed the 450 redundancies across its campuses. It said that it tried to:
"hold off on making redundancies while continuing to [engage] with the Department ... on possible changes to the ... [higher education] funding model in Northern Ireland."
However, it now says:
"a sustainable model is not going to be forthcoming".
I ask the Minister whether she removed £7 million from the higher education budget and, some months later, allocated £7 million to Magee. I would like clarification on that. At the same time, the Minister presents the expansion of Magee as a flagship priority. In January, she said:
"I will continue to prioritise Magee within my budget".
However, her Department said in evidence to the Economy Committee that the current year's spending on the Magee expansion was £7 million and that getting Magee to 10,000 students by 2032 would require either increased student fees or an additional £40 million a year in resource funding. Ulster University's accounts show a 2025 operating deficit of £20·2 million. It says that there has been no inflationary growth in the teaching grant for almost two decades and that the funding model has not properly reflected the added cost of operating a multi-campus university.
Will the Minister level with the House? Where is the fully funded plan for Magee? What assurances can she give that the pressure created by the underfunded model will not fall on Coleraine through drift, contraction or managed decline? For the past two or three years, colleagues and I have been meeting the university to try to ensure that a scenario such as this did not arise. Unfortunately, we are where we are. I blame the Minister for poor planning, including poor financial planning. She should come here to address the issues.

316 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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