Claire Shaw and Michael Allen:

Staff at King’s College London (KCL) are in dispute with their university over plans to cut up to 120 jobs in the health schools to help fund buildings and equipment, amounting up to £400m.

The vast majority of jobs under threat are in the schools of medicine and biomedical sciences, and the institute of psychiatry. The university says it plans to reduce academic staff costs by 10% which could see 120 out of 777 staff in the health schools face redundancy.

Staff have been told that these cuts are a way to compensate for the changes to the funding of higher education, which have seen universities experiencing a reduction in public funding for capital projects, such as new buildings and infrastructure.

“The proposals are not about raising money for buildings alone,” says a KCL spokesperson.

“The changes to the external funding environment for higher education mean that any investment we wish to make – whether to maintain the existing estate, to provide world class research facilities with cutting edge equipment, an excellent student learning environment supported by the latest technology, high-quality halls of residence, or scholarships and bursaries – we have to fund ourselves.