ABERYSTWYTH University spent almost £2 and a half million on staff redundancies last year, while giving the departing vice-chancellor a pay rise.

The university’s accounts for 2014/15, released this week, show that further job losses at the institution have seen £2,488,000 paid out in severance packages.

It brings the total spent on redundancies at the university during its “restructuring” to over £5m in the past two years.

Ninety jobs at the university were axed during last year, the accounts reveal — with the institution now employing 1,654 staff compared to 1,764 in 2013/14.

Meanwhile vice-chancellor April McMahon, who is about to leave her post, was given a £5,000 pay rise last year. Her pay increased in 2014/15 to £223,000 — up from £219,000 in 2013/14.

The report also revealed that the arts centre posted a near £200,000 loss last year, bringing the overall black hole in the centre’s finances over the last decade to over £1.2m.

The majority of losses came from the centre’s arts programmes and overall trading sales, where income has fallen by over £500,000 in the past two years.

With tuition fees now making up nearly 50 per cent of Aberystwyth University’s income, recruiting more students is “essential to ensure the sustainability” of the institution, the report has warned.

But information studies staff are said to be “upset and angry” over plans for the subject to be stripped of departmental status in a bid to save cash, said the report.See this week's south editions for the full story, in shops now or online by clicking the Digital Editions tab at the top of the page