What does Cranfield University merger mean for students and staff?

Cranfield said it had briefed the University and Colleges Union (UCU) on the merger. A spokesperson for UCU said: "Staff and students from both institutions will rightly be concerned about future provision, and the universities now need to provide guarantees that no jobs or courses will be cut." The BBC also spoke to Frances Miles, regional organiser with union UNISON, shortly after the merger was announced. She said staff were "worried" about what it would mean for them. "Generally, there are risks in any merger that staffing will be cut to save money, and we need reassurance that this isn't a smokescreen for more cuts and that the jobs are secure," she added. However, Holford said that staff and unions did not need to be alarmed. "We don't anticipate job losses – the merger is not predicated on job losses, so people should feel secure in that," she said. Holford pointed out that the university had previously made a series of staffing cuts. She added: "Cranfield has already been through an exercise where we focused on our core strengths. We cut some courses, and we did have to have some job losses along with that. "We're hoping to recruit more people, and actually, the five-year plan is for growth in the number of people, not for shrinkage." Holford was keen to portray the merger as a no-brainer for both institutions. "It was actually truly remarkable when we looked through all the portfolios and realised there's very few areas where we overlap. King's offers things that we don't, and we offer things that King's don't," she said. However, with 40% of English universities believed to be in financial deficit, could mergers become more common, with Cranfield following on from Kent and Greenwich ? "I do think that there will be other universities, probably as we speak, considering mergers," Holford said. The regulator for higher education in England, Office for Students, said it was seeing a growing interest in universities collaborating, including through potential mergers. A spokesperson said this could be "for a range of reasons, not just financial". "It's always exciting to see institutions forge strategic partnerships, and we wish Cranfield University and King's College London the best as they set out a new vision for the future", they added.