The UK’s SouthBest West’s Best Publication Student Publication The Student 2023
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ISSUE 770 28 MAY 2025 exepose.com @exepose
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987
TERS 2.0 “could bring the show to a grinding halt”
Guild pledge action to tackle Islamophobia Page 4
Image: Kieran Moore
Rosie Peters-McDonald Deputy Editor
EXCLUSIVE
Pope Napoleon I Page 14
How transphobia is harming science Page 29
Images (top to bottom): Students’ Guild, University of Exeter, Audrey Alvey, Travel Coffee Book, Free Range Stock, DG EMPL via Flickr, Ted Eyton
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HE University of Exeter has announced the return of TERS, or The Exeter Release Scheme, a voluntary self-severance scheme first launched in 2024. Since its original implementation, TERS has been a point of controversy for the EUCU (Exeter University College Union), who have argued against its necessity and effectiveness. In a Q&A held in March 2024, the University’s President and Vice Chancellor Lisa Roberts said that accepted TERS applications must be “in the strategic, financial and operational interests of the University”. TERS was launched to combat financial strain on the University, but in an exclusive statement, the EUCU rebuked that “money can’t be too tight — senior management swapped their bonuses for a 12 per cent pay rise!” The UCU aren’t alone in their concern: an anonymous academic department contacted Exeposé with a statement of discontent at the announcement of the second round of TERS — or, as the UCU have named it, TERS 2.0 — saying, “the impact of the previous round of TERS on student experience (including the worst staff-student ratio of
the Russell Group and reduced module options) hasn’t been assessed — who knows what the next round will do”. Echoing the UCU’s worried statement, the anonymous department told us that “people are losing their minds picking up extra work, tasks are being shunted onto faculty who don’t know how to do them, and the loss of another 160 PS staff could bring the show grinding to a halt”.
“People are losing their minds picking up extra work” Anonymous University of Exeter department
TERS 2.0 was first reported to the UCU by “concerned members of staff high up in the faculties” rather than through official university channels. They told us that “none of the campus unions were consulted on TERS 2.0” and reiterated that it is “the wrong approach, at the wrong time.” In the last round of TERS, the university lost 180 staff members; the UCU suggests that “losing 200 or more staff suddenly on the 29th August will have a terrible impact on student experience”, notwithstanding the present impact of staff losses in 2024. The UCU are also worried about the impact of TERS on module options, which they say are “one of Exeter’s top selling points for students
and something that sets us apart from other unis.” According to The Complete University Guide, the University of Exeter ranks fourth in the Russell Group for student satisfaction; losing optional modules could change this. And it’s not just students who might suffer — the UCU adds, “We’re worried about the impact on workloads and mental health of staff, especially in our overstretched professional services and with C4C challenges looming. We don’t accept the financial wisdom of this approach. TERS has a huge upfront cost — the last round cost nearly £13m in severance pay and still hasn’t made that money back. We think a £100k salary cap could save nearly as much as another round of TERS, without losing a single member of staff.” Staff are clearly concerned about this change, with the anonymous university department telling Exeposé that there should be “proper data […] demonstrating the impact of TERS so far and what plans are in place to mitigate the impact of the next TERS”, describing the “general atmosphere here and in the sector as a whole of insecurity, terror, etc.” They described TERS 2.0 as “risky and incautious” with “uncertain gains”, arguing that “without TERS upfront payments, we’re in the black with operating surplus and we have a good reserve too. We can weather the storm for a few years with steady
management — no need to recklessly and unstrategically lose another 200 staff or more.” If TERS 2.0 does have to go ahead, the anonymous department have called for a staggered release to avoid “chaos when students arrive in September”; they said that the University “can’t absorb the impact of potentially 400 job losses in just over a year and then rejig the entire teaching structure of the uni.”
“We’re worried about the impact on workloads and mental health of staff” University College Union
Both the UCU and the anonymous university department told Exeposé that they feel that there are better alternatives to saving money than resorting to TERS again. The anonymous department suggested that “we need more creative, impactful and just ways of managing costs”, advising a “£100k salary cap which would save approx £5-6m per year (i.e. one per cent operating surplus) without any upfront costs or job losses or impact on student experience of any kind”. Continued on page 4