Sir Peter – who was awarded a near-£20,000 pay rise earlier this year, taking his annual wage to more than £400,000 – blamed “challenges around international student recruitment, increasing staff costs since the pandemic, and the unsustainable levels of funding for Scottish and other UK students” for the decision.

In a message to staff he said the university would use “standard mechanisms at our disposal to manage staffing costs” – which included compulsory redundancies “if unavoidable”.

Following reports in the press, Sir Peter then released a statement saying the university’s “outgoings were consistently higher than its income,” adding it would need to take a “series of actions” in order to redress the balance.

He said: “Throughout this year, I have been frank about the severe financial challenges our university and the sector are facing.

“The university costs £120m each month to run… our outgoings are consistently higher than our income.

“In response to this situation and recent developments with regards to National Insurance, we have concluded that we need to take a series of actions, which will include selective voluntary and, if unavoidable, compulsory redundancies.”

Sir Peter added: “I don’t underestimate how unsettling this news will be, however, it is important that I am honest about the scale of the challenge we have and transparent about the actions we need to take to address it.”