On 22 January, Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney, gave a speech in Glasgow at the Scottish headquarters of multinational financial services firm JP Morgan Chase.
Pay for university workers is still not settled. The five unions representing higher education workers submitted a claim in April, but there’s no agreement.
What do workers in and outside of higher education think is its purpose in our society? And are they prepared to fight for it?
Before the early 2000s, Britain’s universities were almost wholly funded by taxpayers, but the amount halved between 1975 and 2000.
24 November 2023
The number of overseas students coming to study in Britain has reached a record high. Universities and government welcome this, but it’s to the detriment of British students.
28 February 2022
Universities have rejected out of hand union proposals to secure the future of their pension scheme. This has angered the union and raises the stakes in the ongoing wider dispute about university pay and conditions.
Staff at a total of 68 universities were on strike in February after university employers refused to withdraw cuts to pensions or accept compromise proposals from the UCU union.
16 February 2022
Staff at 44 universities are on strike this week after university employers refused to withdraw cuts to the Universities Superannuation Scheme or accept the University and College Union's compromise proposals.
The University and College Union has written to the Secretary of State for Education warning against plans to lower the salary threshold for repaying student loans.
Areas around Britain’s universities are being blighted as once-stable populations are replaced by student lets and multiple occupation – but communities are fighting back. Workers looks at an example from Liverpool…
12 October 2020
Professional training must continue despite the current pandemic. The need for essential face to face teaching must not be overlooked, otherwise students will be delayed in qualifying and entering the workforce.
No wonder universities are in a financial mess. Wedded to a business model that relied on speculative investment to bring in increasing numbers of foreign students, they are going to have to re-focus on Britain to survive…
Coronavirus is exposing how deeply higher education has mortgaged its future to the international markets.
4 April 2020
Britain’s universities are among those making workers redundant, as coronavirus exposes the extent to which higher education has mortgaged its future to the international markets.
University and College Unions have begun their second bout of industrial action this academic year with more universities joining the walkouts.
With universities short of money, more than 4,400 senior staff were paid over £100,000 a year in 2017-8, up more than 10 per cent on the previous year’s tally.
11 December 2017
The Open University has now agreed to admit students from Cuba after criticism from educational unions and others – reversing its view that it could not go against the USA.
7 December 2017
The government is giving up to £15 million over three years to support the establishment of a new, private, tech university to be based at a campus in Hereford city centre.
Students facing a working lifetime of debt are up against the clock. They must use their time at university to demand the abolition of tuition fees – and force their vice-chancellors to join them in the fight…
Academics complain that their wages have been capped since 2008, and they’re right. But they don’t seem to be applying their collective intellect to working out why…
The drive by universities for higher fees from foreign students has led to a decline in British undergraduate numbers.
Student debt is rising at a faster pace than any other form of debt, eclipsing credit card debt of £68 billion.
23 February 2017
Cleaners at King’s College London have been offered higher staffing levels after going on strike over excessive workload and a threat of reorganisation.
With Brexit we can start to repair the damage caused by fees, the European Union and devolution…
There are two reasons why students from abroad want to study in Britain. The first is that British universities are, in general, far and away better than those in the EU.
Teaching staff in Britain’s universities are ramping up their fight for pay. With the autumn term beginning, they could be joined by administrative staff.
The mere fact of the vote to Leave looks set to benefit thousands of young British people looking for a place at the university of their choice.
The government is trying to turn academia into a machine for facilitating personal gain…
Academic staff in higher education are in dispute with university employers over their pay.
31 May 2016
University academic staff in the University and College Union began their campaign of industrial action with two-day strike on 25 and 26 May. More action will follow.
