Attack on ‘scaremongering’ over ‘at-risk’ London Metropolitan University

Published: 11 March, 2011
by TOM FOOT

LONDON Metropolitan University has been named on a secret list of debt-ridden institutions under threat of closure.

The list of seven universities had been kept under wraps until last week when a report from the National Audit Office to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recommended its publication.

In a statement, former Islington Council leader Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP and chairwoman of the PAC, said: “Students deserve to know if the place they choose to study at has a high risk of failing, particularly in the brave new world where the student holds the purse strings.”

But Max Watson, chairman of the university’s branch of trade union Unison, said: “Unison believes scaremongering about London Met being ‘at risk’ is not helpful for our staff or students.” 

A cloud of uncertainty has hung over the Holloway institution since managers were found to have wrongly claimed more than £36million funding for students who did not complete courses.

On Monday, the university announced the appointment of a new deputy chief executive Paul Bowler, a former managing director of NatWest Markets and its investment arm, Greenwich Capital Markets. Mr Bowler has been appointed on a six-figure salary in the week that Unison scored a victory with an assurance that all staff directly employed by the university will at least receive the London Living Wage. 

Unison is demanding  that “contracted-out” workers should be paid the same rate. 

Mr Watson said: “This commitment to the Living Wage for some staff is an important step in that direction.”