The university told staff it wants to move to two campuses, City and Moulsecoomb, from 2030, a day after telling unions their agreements end in June 2027.

The University of Brighton is proposing to close its Falmer campus and run the whole university from its City and Moulsecoomb campuses from 2030. Staff and students were told by email on Tuesday 15 September, according to Brighton and Hove News, which first reported the plan. No decision has been made, and the university says it will consult before one is taken.

In a statement carried by Brighton and Hove News, the university said: “We have started conversations with our staff and students about two important elements of our transformation programme: the future of our campuses and the future framework that underpins our employment arrangements. On our campuses, we are exploring a preferred option to bring the university together on two world-class campuses at City and Moulsecoomb from 2030.”

Timeline graphic: 14 September 2026, unions told recognition agreements will end; 15 September 2026, staff and students emailed about the Falmer closure plan and unions rally at Grand Parade; June 2027, recognition agreements due to end; 2030, university consolidated on City and Moulsecoomb campuses under the proposal

What is at Falmer

The Falmer campus sits beside the A27 and Falmer station, next to the Amex stadium, about four miles from the city centre. On the university’s own pages it is home to:

  • the School of Education, Sport and Health Sciences, which runs the university’s teacher training, nursing, midwifery, allied health and sport and exercise science courses
  • two halls of residence, Great Wilkins and Paddock Field, housing more than 600 students
  • specialist facilities including simulation wards for nursing and midwifery, physiotherapy and podiatry suites, biomechanics labs, a swimming pool, a sports hall, five grass football pitches and a floodlit synthetic pitch

Those details are from the university’s Falmer campus pages, which as of this week describe the campus as a working part of the university and say nothing about its future.

The union agreements end in June 2027

The campus announcement landed a day after another one. On Monday 14 September the university told its two biggest staff unions, the University and College Union and Unison, that it is ending its recognition agreements with them, according to Times Higher Education. The agreements end in June 2027. Times Higher Education reports that 28 collective agreements are affected, some dating back 30 years, covering sick pay, maternity and paternity benefits, leave and workload allocation.

The university told Times Higher Education it has “begun discussions with our recognised trade unions about a future framework for employment arrangements and a new recognition agreement that better supports colleagues, students and the university’s long-term ambitions”, and told Brighton and Hove News it remains “committed to working collaboratively” with the unions.

The unions read it differently:

  • Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, told Brighton and Hove News: “For the University of Brighton to even consider removing the rights of its staff to join a recognised union is scandalous.” She told Times Higher Education that “rather than disenfranchising staff just as the new academic year begins, management should be working with staff and trade unions to ensure a more secure future.”
  • Andrea Egan, Unison general secretary, told Times Higher Education: “This is a terrible way to treat staff. Ripping up longstanding agreements will harm industrial relations and ultimately means letting down students.”
  • Liam Kenny, Unison south east regional manager, told Brighton and Hove News: “Silencing the collective voice of workers who care deeply about providing students with a fantastic university experience will be hugely damaging to the University of Brighton’s reputation.”

UCU called an emergency rally in its own public appeal: “UCU members at Brighton University face the threat of derecognition. We have called an emergency rally tomorrow at 1:15pm,” the union posted, giving the address of the university’s Grand Parade building in the city centre (UCU, 14 September 2026). The rally took place on Tuesday outside the City campus.

What it means for you

  • If you have a student at Falmer, nothing changes yet. The proposal is for 2030, no decision has been taken, and the university says consultation comes first. The halls, the courses and the sports facilities are running as normal.
  • If you work at the university, the firmer date is June 2027: that is when the existing recognition agreements end, unless the “new recognition agreement” the university says it wants is in place.
  • For Falmer and Moulsecoomb residents, the plan points both ways: a campus site beside the station potentially falling vacant, and more of the university concentrated at Moulsecoomb. Any redevelopment of the Falmer site would come through the planning register in the usual way, and we will report it when it does.
  • For the city’s jobs market, the university is a major city employer, and this lands in a month when the city’s claimant count rose for the first time since March.

Nothing in the record so far says jobs will be cut: the university has announced a preferred option and a process, not a redundancy programme. The numbers that matter next are in the consultation the university has promised. When it opens, we will link it here.

Sources