The University of Dundee has announced it plans to axe 632 full-time jobs in an attempt to address a £35m deficit.
The cuts will affect every school and directorate within the university and will result in a loss of around 20% of the workforce.
Buildings and intellectual property assets are also expected to be sold as part of the financial recovery plan.
Staff were informed on Tuesday by interim principal and vice-chancellor Professor Shane O’Neill.
Professor O’Neill said an external investigation would also be conducted into “what went wrong”, with a pledge to “accept and act on the findings”.
He said: “The current financial crisis has challenged us to ask some very fundamental questions about the size, shape, balance and structure of the university.
“The measures we are now proposing would make an essential contribution in our becoming a more appropriately balanced and restructured institution.
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“Getting there will not be easy and we are determined to take on board all relevant lessons from the past and the various factors that contributed to the current position.”
The university revealed in November it was facing a financial crisis with an estimated £30m deficit.
It cited a number of factors, including a “severe drop” in international student recruitment, cost increases, inflation pressures, and poor capital planning and investment decisions.
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Prof O’Neill said cuts had already yielded more than £17m in savings this year, but more will be required.
The proposals include a new structure from eight academic schools to three faculties, as well as the “restructuring and streamlining” of professional services.
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The university said the planned changes “will require a significant downsizing of core funded staff”.
The staffing reductions will amount to 632 full-time equivalent posts – 197 academic roles, 119 school-based professional services posts in schools, and 316 directorate roles-based professional services roles.
The university admitted that the scale of the cuts meant that it is “very unlikely that the need for compulsory redundancy will be mitigated entirely”.
It added it was now moving formally into collective consultation on redundancy.
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Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), branded it a “hammer-blow” for staff who are “being made to pay the price for egregious management failure”.
She added: “It’s four months since workers first learned that there was a problem, and it feels that very little has happened in the intervening period to turn the university around.
“We are clear that there is an alternative to sacking staff and cutting courses, student support and vital educational provision in this city, and we’ll continue to do all we can to save jobs and to preserve education in Dundee.”
