UNIVERSITY and College Union (UCU) members have threatened to strike if Oxford Brookes University does not withdraw cost-cutting plans for up to 48 compulsory redundancies.

They also passed a vote of no confidence in vice-chancellor Alistair Fitt — whose is paid £253,000 a year — after management threatened to axe academic staff in mathematics, social sciences and arts and humanities as soon as next January.

The union said there was no rationale for the cuts, which Oxford Brookes claims will save £2 millon a year, adding that the university is in excellent financial health, with cash reserves of £127m.