In the immediate aftermath of the last Scottish draft Budget the warnings from universities were clear.

Just hours after Finance Secretary Derek Mackay announced a real terms funding cut of 1.79 per cent, sector body Universities Scotland said institutions would find it difficult to deal with.

In terms of hard cash it means core funding is £127 million below 2014 levels in real terms.

“This returns universities to a series of real terms cuts that the Government stopped last year," Professor Andrea Nolan, convener of Universities Scotland said at the time.

"We’d hoped last year’s decision was the start of a slow climb back to sustainable funding. That’s clearly not the case.”

Appearing before the Scottish Parliament’s education committee a few weeks later John Swinney, the Education Secretary, appeared somewhat blasé.

Read more: John Swinney dismisses university funding fears

"I don’t have those concerns. Government investment represents a minority of university income so obviously universities are very successful in attracting other income," he said.

“The contribution we have made by sustaining the funding is a strong foundation for the sector."

The announcement that the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) is to introduce a voluntary severance scheme for up to 170 staff in the hope of achieving savings up to £10 million is stark realisation of concerns voiced by the sector.

Read more: Scottish university announces £10m job cuts

In a letter to staff, Professor Steve Olivier, the deputy principal, highlighted various cost pressures including inflation, wage increases, a real terms decrease in grant funding and unmet income growth targets.

UWS also blames changing patterns of student demand and wider pressures on the funding of research and commercial work.

All of these will be familiar to universities across Scotland.

Just earlier this week a major international study concluded Scottish universities were in “sustained decline”.

The European Universities Association (EUA) said the sector was “under pressure” specifically because of the gathering pace of public funding cuts.

Read more: Scottish universities in 'sustained decline'

But universities are also facing a new threat.

Mr Olivier said scale of the financial challenges facing UWS had grown because they had recently been advised by the Treasury that the university was required to increase the contribution it makes to pension funds.

These changes involve an immediate cost of half a million pounds this year, increasing to nearly three million pounds next year.

Mary Senior, Scotland official for the UCU lecturers' union, said it was concerning that staff cuts were being blamed on a rise in pensions costs.

While pensions increases have their roots in a decision taken by the UK Treasury, Ms Senior said the Scottish Government could take action to mitigate the impact.

This includes passing on extra money from Westminster - known as consequentials - to universities.

She said: "We are calling on the Scottish Government to confirm that it will pass on consequentials from the Treasury to universities, to avoid the need to cut staff and mitigate the impact on the sector.”