The University of Nottingham’s governing council has approved the final business case for its Future Nottingham 2 (FN2) restructuring, which replaces its faculties with three colleges, closes courses the university judges not financially sustainable and, according to Times Higher Education, cuts 560 jobs. As Nottingham approves three-college restructure plans under Future Nottingham 2, staff and students at the University of Nottingham now face three years of phased change.
In a statement to students published on 8 October, the university said University Council approved the FN2 Final Business Case on Thursday 1 October. Faculties will be replaced by three colleges: Health; Humanities and Social Sciences; and Science and Engineering. New leadership structures begin in January 2027 and the transition to the college structure begins in August 2027. The changes will be rolled out over three years, and the university says nothing will change immediately.
Nottingham approves three-college restructure: the Future Nottingham 2 timetable
The university’s first word to students came on 1 October itself, in a notice confirming Council’s approval of the final business case. It says Future Nottingham has been in development for two years, that the first phase brought what the university calls significant financial resilience, and that the second phase is meant to strengthen the academic model, create capacity to reinvest in the student experience and restore financial resilience. Students were promised no immediate change to their academic circumstances, an email from their faculty pro-vice-chancellor, an engagement event and access to support and wellbeing officers for anyone worried about the impact.
The strike calendar means picket lines run through the very term in which Nottingham approves three-college restructure Future Nottingham 2. University of Nottingham students have been told the changes arrive gradually over three years, but the sequencing is now fixed: college leadership structures from January 2027, the move to the three colleges from August 2027, and the remaining changes phased behind them.
What the business case changes
The university’s statement sets out three further areas of change. Traditional personal tutoring for taught students will be replaced by a model called Tutoring for Student Success. Some taught courses will be discontinued because they are not financially sustainable or do not reflect student demand, and Master of Research (MRes) provision will be consolidated from more than 73 programmes to ten. Academic workload across teaching, research and PhD supervision will be allocated in a way the university describes as more transparent and equitable.
The statement does not name the courses that will close. Times Higher Education reported on 5 October that Nottingham will close its music and modern languages departments and will no longer offer language degrees. A new language centre will allow most students to take a language module within their degree, and music-related research will continue in the School of Computer Science with up to four new full-time roles focused on music, technology and innovation, THE reported. THE also noted concern that no university in the East Midlands would then offer language degrees. The university says students already on courses that are closing to new entrants will be supported through to the end of their studies.
Why the university says it must change
A fuller public explanation appeared on the university’s news site on 5 October, under the title Shaping Nottingham’s future. The university says it is not earning enough from its core activities to fund future investment, that student recruitment is highly competitive, and that inflation and rising costs mean its longer-term position is unsustainable without further action. The page gives no deficit figure and no savings target.
The same page fills in details of the new shape. Five faculties become three colleges with simpler structures, and the way professional services support faculties, equality work and technical services will change. Degree provision in modern languages and music closes, but module-level language teaching continues through a new university-wide Language Centre, music activity carries on through Lakeside Arts, and the university’s collaboration with the BBC Concert Orchestra is extended to 2029.
Team-based tutoring, piloted in some areas, is to be rolled out more widely. What stands out is the order in which Nottingham approves three-college restructure Future Nottingham 2. University of Nottingham chose to confirm the structure and the closures first, while the numbers that drove the decision, from expected savings to compulsory redundancies, remain unpublished.
Jobs, consultation and strikes
According to THE, 560 posts will go, down from the 608 first proposed, and a small number of new roles will be created. The final business case was shared with staff on 5 October after a consultation lasting just over two months. THE reported that the university said around a third of the alternative proposals made during consultation had been taken up in full or in part, and that it will offer voluntary redundancy, a voluntary reduction in hours scheme and redeployment, with the aim of keeping compulsory redundancies to a minimum.
The University and College Union branch at Nottingham began strike action on 30 September, with action planned until 11 December, The Tab reported. Staff also held a marking boycott over the summer. The university has not published in its statement the savings the FN2 business case is expected to deliver, the number of compulsory redundancies, or the number of courses closing.
What it means
TED analysis:
- Structure: Replacing faculties with three colleges puts budgets and academic leadership into fewer, larger units. Suppliers of student records, timetabling, workload and HR systems should expect reconfiguration work timed to the January 2027 and August 2027 milestones.
- Portfolio: Cutting MRes provision from more than 73 programmes to ten, and closing whole departments on cost and demand grounds, shows a large research university now testing each subject against recruitment and margin. Boards elsewhere facing deficits are likely to run the same test.
- Regional provision: If the East Midlands loses its only remaining language degrees, regional bodies, schools and employers that rely on language graduates will have to look further afield, and other universities may see an opening.
- Industrial relations: With strikes planned to run until 11 December, the first term of the new plan will be disrupted. The final number of compulsory redundancies, not yet disclosed, is likely to shape how long the dispute lasts.
