In November 2008, Newby announced plans to transform Liverpool University into a centre for "knowledge exchange", opening a graduate school in India. In January 2009, academics and trade unions at Liverpool were reported as expressing unease at planned restructuring, the offer of voluntary redundancy to all staff and the use of a private company Spirit of Creation (previously used at UWE) in circumventing "established structures and procedures in pushing the plan through". There was also concern at what was perceived to be a shift away from humanities and social sciences towards science, where research income was potentially higher.