Financial Crisis of London Metropolitan University

Financial crisis
In July 2008 it was reported that a financial crisis was looming for the university. London Met had been misreporting data on student drop-outs for several years and, consequently, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was proposing to claw back at least £15 million for the overpayment in 2008-9.
News of the crisis led to a demonstration of staff and students outside the universities Tower Building in January 2009. They were calling for the vice-chancellor to be sacked and standing against possible job cuts.
In February 2009 the figure of overpayment was revised to £56 million by HEFCE, who were seeking to recover the money. Local newspaper the Islington Gazette reported on the high stress levels among staff, including those on long-term sick leave. Alan Pike, a UNISON official, was quoted as saying "In the past two months, we have had about 20 support staff come to us with stress."
On 19 March 2009, in response to the crisis, vice-chancellor Brian Roper resigned his position with immediate effect but continued to receive his salary until December 2009. Controversially, he received a series of bonuses during the period when the university was returning inaccurate data to HEFCE.
On 29 April 2009, the University and College Union (UCU) announced that members at London Metropolitan University voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action and 'action short of a strike' against the loss of at least 550 jobs.
In May 2009 Alfred Morris, former vice-chancellor of the University of the West of England and University of Wales, Lampeter, was appointed interim vice-chancellor.
The government announced in May 2009 that there would be an independent inquiry, exploring the possibility that HEFCE had colluded with London Met by failing to query implausibly low drop-out rates. It concluded in November 2009 and was reported to cast responsibility to Brian Roper, other senior administrators, and the Board of Governors. Following conclusion of the report, the chair of HEFCE called on "senior staff" and the entire Board of Governors to resign, noting that HEFCE was not convinced that the university's management could effectively safeguard public funds. After the deadline indicated by HEFCE chief executive Alan Langlands had passed, there were ruminations among staff and ministers that HEFCE could withdraw funding, effectively forcing the university to close.
A report commissioned by the university, published in November 2009, found that Roper had “the major responsibility and culpability” for the financial situation: Roper and some members of the executive were aware that the university had been applying its own interpretation of funding rules on student dropouts - rather than the funding council’s - since 2003, but took no action. The university’s board of governors and audit committee had an oversight role, which made them ultimately “accountable for a financial failure of this magnitude” and meant that they “must take overall responsibility”.

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