As SOAS needlessly imposes yet another restructuring, once again its workers and students are losing out.

What is happening?

Through the unnecessary recent move to a three college system – combining all 10 academic departments into 3 colleges – SOAS is yet again neglecting its staff and students. The specific impacts of this that we are writing to inform students about are as follows:

1-   The 10 current department managers being made to compete for only 6 equivalent permanent positions in the new colleges

2-   All ‘Student Support staff’ and ‘Academic Support staff’ being merged into one title of ‘Course officer’, with new responsibilities that are vastly different and will be detrimental to students and staff alike.

3-   This process being rushed to avoid proper scrutiny, and SOAS seemingly not intending to listen to any alternatives or other recommendations.

Why you should care?

Initially, we think you should care as this represents SOAS yet again introducing unnecessary and harmful changes that will negatively impact its workers and students. SOAS rushing through a process that demotes some workers, entirely changes the role of others, and removes some of the crucial support students and academics have access to will only be harmful. These changes will not only be directly detrimental to the affected staff, but also to our experience as students - think of the people who help you with mitigating circumstances, timetables and module sign up chaos. SOAS management will try to sell this as offering more student support by having 20 +/- course support officers while the reality will be just the opposite, only further overstretching staff and diluting their ability to work effectively. These changes are also scheduled to take effect from early March and will undoubtedly be damaging in the most vital period of the academic year for students.

This is further relevant for students as we are part of SOAS community that is made up solely of its students and workers. This institution is us, rather than the few overpaid people that manage it, and when any part of it is being attacked as it is with this restructuring, we believe this affects all of us. This is part of a wider shift by SOAS over recent years, emphasising profit and public image over the treatment of its workers and students. This is evidenced through spending on unnecessary security, broken websites, and flashy renovations, rather than on fairly paying valuable staff that will actually improve how this university functions, or hiring more to replace those it fired during the pandemic. This is relevant for students to exist in a university that reflects our values, and that actually functions in the interests of the people that are part of it.