Students at the University of Hull are demanding a refund of their £9,000-a-year fees over the closure of a campus that has left staff “utterly demoralised” and hundreds of undergraduates in “open revolt”.

The university’s Scarborough campus is being wound down and its operations moved 40 miles south to Hull under plans by the vice-chancellor, Prof Calie Pistorius.

But the move has left students with limited access to their tutors, who are being moved to Hull, and turned the campus into what staff and undergraduates describe as a ghost town. Sources said as few as 13 students live at Cayley Hall, the university’s £3,998-a-year hall of residence, which is built to house 213.

“It’s becoming clear that they’re moving the staff to Hull and slowly our access to our academic staff – which is what the campus is sold to you on the back of – is being eroded,” said one student. “Increasingly, there’s empty offices that previously housed academics who were here to support us. Increasingly, people are disappearing.”

An online petition started by students calling for a refund of their £9,000-a-year fees “to reflect the cuts in the level of service” has attracted nearly 400 signatures.

The closure of the Scarborough campus was announced in April 2014. Six hundred second-year and third-year students currently study at the seaside campus – down from 1,800 when it first opened in 2010 – and next year it will house only final-year undergraduates.

University bosses recently caved in to pressure from students to open the campus library around the clock after it reduced its opening hours. The canteen is shut over the weekend, students said.

“The place is like a ghost town,” said one university employee contacted by the Guardian. “Many academics have been reposted to Hull but administrative staff still have no idea what will happen to their jobs.”

‘The campus and the town of Scarborough have been hung out to dry by a bungling vice-chancellor.’ Photograph: Gary Calton/The Guardian

It is believed that around 30 university staff face redundancy because, unlike the academics, their jobs are not being transferred to Hull.

There is growing anger that Pistorius has not yet explained to students in person his decision to close down the campus, nor attended the past two graduations in the seaside town.

The South African professor – whose first cousin’s son is Oscar Pistorius – was previously vice-chancellor at the University of Pretoria, where in August 2006 he had to be escorted off a campus by police amid student riots over plans to close it down.

“The campus and the town of Scarborough have been hung out to dry by a bungling vice-chancellor who hides behind his junior staff and hasn’t got the guts to appear before his own students,” said one member of university staff.

“He’s destroyed a successful education community in a town whose economy is already precarious. It’s heart-wrenching for everyone associated with the campus.”

The results of this year’s Student Experience Survey, released last week, showed how the university had fallen rapidly down the league table since announcing the closure of its Scarborough campus in 2012. It currently sits 74th in the annual table of 117 universities, having dropped from 44th place two years ago.



“It’s a nightmare from the students’ point of view,” said one student, who asked not to be named over concerns that speaking publicly would affect her grades.



“We know that we’re coming to a small campus and there’s good aspects of that: you end up knowing everybody, it’s very friendly, access to lecturers and tutors historically has been brilliant – or that’s what it’s sold to you as.”



She added: “People haven’t got access to their personal tutors because they’re in Hull three days out of five.



“It’s depressing. We just want it to end now because it’s hard enough doing your finals, let alone doing them in a depressing atmosphere where you feel like you’re being hard done by. That is the consensus of how people feel: it’s tough and they’re taking the piss, frankly.”



A university spokeswoman said it was working with a “partner institution” on a sustainable model for the Scarborough campus. She said the university would continue to support education in the town by sponsoring its University Technical College, an engineering and design college for 14- to 18-year-olds.



She added: “We remain committed to providing a positive experience for students and will continue to work with our students to look for ways in which the experience can be enhanced as the campus evolves.



“We are working with our students on the Scarborough campus to address recent concerns raised by them and have already introduced improvements to enhance their experience and directly address the points raised. These include the introduction of 24-hour opening at the campus library, improved the availability of academic support and reviewed catering.”

