Staff at the University of Suffolk have been warned that up to 15 posts could be made redundant after external funding was cut.

It is understood that some jobs under threat are linked to attempts to attract more local school-leavers into higher education.

The University has about 660 staff - and it has said it is working with those people affected by the change to see if they might be able to move into other parts of the administration.

The posts under threat are believed to be mainly at its headquarters in Ipswich - the University of Suffolk also has students at Bury St Edmunds, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth.

A spokesperson from it said: “The University of Suffolk is currently in a period of consultation regarding a small number of redundancies.

"These proposals affect specific roles and have been primarily driven by a reduction in external funding or required transformation of services.

"The University has been supporting affected staff throughout the consultation period and we anticipate that numbers of potential redundancies will be reduced due to the establishment of new roles and a commitment to seek redeployment to other vacancies within the organisation where possible.”

The university sector across the country is facing serious financial problems as Chancellor Rachel Reeves seeks to cut public spending.

There are fears that the loss of earnings from overseas students and cuts in support to UK citizens who want to go to university could put universities under more financial pressure.

However the University of Suffolk is not thought to be suffering the same pressures from this that some other longer-established institutions are facing up to.

And it is understood the changes will not affect its expansion in areas like healthcare - especially its new dental courses that have recently started in a bid to ease the crisis in that sector.