Prof George Bain, the Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast, defended his restructuring plan which will cost more than 100 staff members their jobs. It was not an option, but a necessity, he said in his annual report, published yesterday.
During the academic year 1997-98, Queen's began to implement the plan which includes a £25 million investment in "key areas of excellence", including the recruitment of more than 100 new academics. It will, however, lead to the closure of three departments, Geology, Italian and Semitic Studies next year and to redundancies throughout the university. In total 100 jobs will be lost.