The university, which runs the Hunterian Museum, has an operating deficit of £10m and has identified areas, including the museum, which must help to put the institution back in the black.
The Hunterian Museum, which is also responsible for the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Museum of Anatomy, the Zoology Museum and the Museum of Pathology, must cut 10.5 per cent of the £960,000 it receives each year from the university. The museum receives an additional £640,000 from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council.
It is hoped all the cuts will be found through a voluntary redundancy scheme that was introduced in June and closed last month.The museum has the equivalent of 46 full-time posts.
A spokeswoman for Glasgow University said they were expecting staff nearing retirement age to step forward for the voluntary severance package.
In a newsletter published in June, the principal of the university explained to staff that the institution had run into financial difficulties over the past 10 years and had already disposed of various assets, but it still needed to do more.
Evelyn Silber, the director of the Hunterian Museum, said: 'The Hunterian is a real, unique selling point of the university, but it may not weigh heavily enough.' The Hunterian is Scotland's oldest public museum with more than 1 million items in its collection including internationally significant coin and archaeology collections.
'The Hunterian Art Gallery holds the notable Whistler collection and some Charles Rennie Mackintosh works as well as European prints from the 15th century onwards.
The museum will celebrate its bicentenary in 2007 and has received external funding to redisplay the existing collection. Parts of the museum will be shut in coming months for the installation of a new lift, displays and hands-on interpretation. 'Being deprived of resources at this point would be very damaging,' said Silber.
She added that morale at the museum was low. 'We are sad to think that, in spite of the hard work put in to support the university's strategic agenda, provide a dynamic public face and be part of the Scottish tourist scene - through Mackintosh House - we are, unfortunately, viewed as a target for reductions,' she said. However, she praised staff for staying positive under the circumstances.
Tristram Besterman, the former director of the Manchester Museum and a member of the University Museums Group, said: 'It is a shame that a museum such as the Hunterian should be singled out in this way. In a university context, museums and galleries are always a soft target.'
Besterman added that in England, universities understood that museums and galleries were valuable because they were 'uniquely positioned' as the accessible face of the university.
But he said he was unsure whether the same understanding was present in Scotland. 'A university that has a world-class museum and gallery has the edge over the competition,' he added.
The Hunterian Museum, which is also responsible for the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Museum of Anatomy, the Zoology Museum and the Museum of Pathology, must cut 10.5 per cent of the £960,000 it receives each year from the university. The museum receives an additional £640,000 from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council.
It is hoped all the cuts will be found through a voluntary redundancy scheme that was introduced in June and closed last month.The museum has the equivalent of 46 full-time posts.
A spokeswoman for Glasgow University said they were expecting staff nearing retirement age to step forward for the voluntary severance package.
In a newsletter published in June, the principal of the university explained to staff that the institution had run into financial difficulties over the past 10 years and had already disposed of various assets, but it still needed to do more.
Evelyn Silber, the director of the Hunterian Museum, said: 'The Hunterian is a real, unique selling point of the university, but it may not weigh heavily enough.' The Hunterian is Scotland's oldest public museum with more than 1 million items in its collection including internationally significant coin and archaeology collections.
'The Hunterian Art Gallery holds the notable Whistler collection and some Charles Rennie Mackintosh works as well as European prints from the 15th century onwards.
The museum will celebrate its bicentenary in 2007 and has received external funding to redisplay the existing collection. Parts of the museum will be shut in coming months for the installation of a new lift, displays and hands-on interpretation. 'Being deprived of resources at this point would be very damaging,' said Silber.
She added that morale at the museum was low. 'We are sad to think that, in spite of the hard work put in to support the university's strategic agenda, provide a dynamic public face and be part of the Scottish tourist scene - through Mackintosh House - we are, unfortunately, viewed as a target for reductions,' she said. However, she praised staff for staying positive under the circumstances.
Tristram Besterman, the former director of the Manchester Museum and a member of the University Museums Group, said: 'It is a shame that a museum such as the Hunterian should be singled out in this way. In a university context, museums and galleries are always a soft target.'
Besterman added that in England, universities understood that museums and galleries were valuable because they were 'uniquely positioned' as the accessible face of the university.
But he said he was unsure whether the same understanding was present in Scotland. 'A university that has a world-class museum and gallery has the edge over the competition,' he added.
