Executive's commitment to Coleraine campus questioned as MLAs debate Ulster University job cuts
Job cuts facing Ulster University (UU) are an issue for Stormont not London, and the focus by nationalist politicians on promoting an expanded campus in Londonderry has resulted in Coleraine being neglected, a TUV MLA has said.
Timothy Gaston says the “whole Executive cannot wash their hands” of the situation facing Coleraine – which along with other campuses is facing significant redundancies.
However, despite the cuts, Stormont’s Sinn Fein run economy department (DfE) intends to press ahead with an expansion at the Magee campus in the maiden city.
On Monday, the job losses were debated in the Assembly, where Mr Gaston said there was only “a vague commitment to support Coleraine”.
The North Antrim MLA said: “For years, nationalist politicians have campaigned for the focus of attention to be on Magee, resulting in Coleraine being neglected.
“Let us look at the facts. Even in the aftermath of the devastating news for Coleraine's Ulster University, a spokesperson for the Department said that the expansion of the Londonderry campus remained ‘a clear ministerial priority’”, he said.
DUP East Londonderry MLA Maurice Bradley asked what assurances the minister could give that pressure “created by the underfunded model will not fall on Coleraine through drift, contraction or managed decline” – saying his party has been meeting with UU to ensure that does not happen.
His party colleague Phillip Brett said DfE minister Caoimhe Archibald cannot “point fingers at anyone else” for the situation facing universities – saying her department was “warned repeatedly that failure to deal with higher education funding would lead to exactly this outcome”.
“She chose delay and spin over solutions, and hundreds of workers are now paying the price for that. Sinn Féin cannot blame anyone else for this”, the North Belfast MLA said.
Ulster Unionist Party MLA Diana Armstrong said Ulster University had made it clear that “the failure to uplift tuition fees in line with inflation, combined with the real-terms erosion of the block grant, has left institutions to operate with little financial flexibility”.
She added: “The UUP believes that the current cap on student numbers actively limits our universities' ability to grow, innovate and diversify their income streams”.
The Fermanagh MLA also said universities “have a responsibility to manage their finances prudently and transparently”.
However, Sinn Fein MLA Padraig Delargy said “proper, secure funding” is needed from London – blaming this for the problems facing universities in Northern Ireland.
He said that aligning tuition fees with those in England is not the answer.
Tuition fees in NI are capped at £4,855 for local students, whereas in England they are capped at £9,535.
Students from the rest of the UK studying in the province pay the higher rate.
When asked in January about concerns over the expansion of Magee at the expense of of Coleraine, a DfE spokesperson said in the last academic year, 2024/25, enrolments at Coleraine were up by 204 students on the previous year.
“The Programme for Government, agreed by all parties in the Executive, includes a commitment to expand Ulster University’s Magee Campus”, the spokesperson said.