Students have reacted to plans to reduce staffing costs at their university.

Anglia Ruskin University, which has campuses in Chelmsford, Cambridge, and Peterborough, said it would be aiming to reduce its staffing bill of about £150m by 10%, the BBC understands.

The university said it was "facing a number of significant financial challenges" and must manage its expenditure carefully to protect its long-term future.

More than half of the undergraduate students based at the university's campus in Peterborough, which opened in 2022, are from the local area, and many say they would not have gone to university if the campus did not exist.

Lin Gunasekara said he thought the decision to reduce staffing costs was worrying in the short term and that he thought more change could be to come.

"As technology is advancing, I do think we could potentially see a new way in which university education is delivered to the students, which could potentially be through the use of AI [artificial intelligence] or even virtual," the 21-year-old said.

Scarlett Douglas said staffing issues could impact her studies.

"It is a worry, of course," the social work student said.

"I mainly worry for future students as well. You need the lecturers here to be able to provide support for us, and if there's not as many then it's difficult for us."

David Irotumhe said it was not a worry but he felt a lack of investment in higher education could be "selfish".

"Less investment in the future doesn't really set us up for a great opportunity or put us in a better standing to do better for ourselves, better for the world, better for the economy," he said.

Anglia Ruskin has launched a voluntary severance scheme to help address its financial challenges, a spokesman for the institution said.

"Taking action now will ensure we can continue to deliver high-quality education and research across all our campuses," they added.

It is understood problems attracting foreign students after changes to immigration rules have contributed to the university's struggles.

In January 2024, the government banned most international students from bringing their families to live with them in the UK.

Home Office data published on Thursday showed the number of student visa applications fell by 20% in the year to October.

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