Artificial intelligence technologies are already being used within higher and further education, impacting on your working lives and the education of students.

It is crucial we shape the impact of these technologies on education in a way that works for both staff and students, mitigating the risks they could pose.

UCU’s Future of Work in Post-16 Education Working Group is considering the threats and opportunities of these technologies and needs to understand how members and branches are approaching them.

Members are encouraged to complete the following survey. Your responses will help the working group to understand from members’ perspective the uses, benefits and threats of AI-driven education technologies. This will in turn help UCU to provide the appropriate support to members and branches, and to develop the appropriate policy for UCU on Artificial Intelligence.

AI Member Survey

‘UCU sends its heartfelt condolences to the victims and loved ones of the atrocious attack in Southport last week. The local community needs the support and space to heal and come together after those tragic events.

‘Fascist thugs have instead exploited this tragedy to launch racist and Islamophobic violence across England. We send our solidarity to all those under attack, including the many Black and Asian people who were assaulted, as well as international students and staff who will rightly be worried for their safety.

‘We applaud all those who joined the many protests against the far right. We encourage UCU members and all trade unionists to continue to stand against them and to offer support to local mosques and community groups. When doing so, please remain vigilant, look after each other and travel in groups.

‘The racism we have seen did not occur in a vacuum. It is the result of decades of emboldening anti-migrant racism by Britain’s political and media class. Those who have stoked far-right rhetoric are culpable and must now face consequences. The government needs to tackle both the anti-migrant rhetoric spewed by segments of the press and end its own pandering to racist panics about refugees.’

Jo Grady
UCU general secretary

The EGM was called to complete the business of the AGM of 3rd July and to update members on any issued flowing from the latest meeting of the Trade Union University Group (TUUG) that took place on the morning of the EGM.

The meeting was well attended and there was a healthy discussion over Motions 1 to 3.

Motion 4 was remitted for consideration at a forthcoming EGM to allow more time for a full debate.

UCU rejects UCEA pay offer

UCU has rejected UCEA’s pay offer of 2.5% reported Times Higher. Speaking to the paper and Research Professional, UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘The ball is now in the employers’ court to make further improvements.’

Gaza protestors targeted by police

Universities have been collaborating with police to spy on pro-Palestine student protestors reported The Metro. Speaking to the paper, UCU described the findings as disturbing: ‘Evidence of university managers collaborating with the police to target, monitor, and potentially criminalise their own students for peacefully protesting against genocide should ring alarm bells,’

Nottingham and Birmingham universities went to court to try to remove pro-Palestine student encampments and The Guardian has reported the high court has ruled the students can be evicted.

Labour wins general election

In response to Labour winning the general election, Jo Grady told Chemistry World it was the result trade unionists needed after “14 long years of Tory misrule.”
Jo told FE Week that Labour must treat the teacher pay gap as a day-one priority to “show it cares about further education”.
Now Labour has won, Lord Wharton has quit as chair of the Office for Students. This follows a damning report last year from a House of Lords committee slamming the higher education regulator’s political independence. Speaking to The Independent at the time, Jo Grady called on Wharton to resign.

UCU calls out Cass Review for ‘serious methodological flaws’

UCU’s NEC unanimously voted to adopt a motion which claims that the landmark Cass Review into gender identity services for young people, published in April, “falls short of the standard of rigorous and ethical research expected of research professionals” and “provides no evidence for the ‘new approach’ it recommends”, reported Times Higher.

Speaking to The Times and Times Higher, UCU said the union was “an unequivocal supporter of trans rights, a position established and repeatedly endorsed by our annual congress”.

“This motion was brought by our members after listening to concerns about the Cass report from the trans community, including LGBTQ charities such as Mermaids and Stonewall.
“Our union will proudly work with trans-led organisations to resist any recommendations that could harm young trans people and will pressure the government for an approach to trans healthcare that affirms and centres the trans community.”

Goldsmiths ‘determined’ to close Black British literature course

Goldsmiths, University of London has been accused of being “determined” to close its Black British literature course, reported The Guardian after provisional redundancy notices were issued to 97 academic staff across 11 university departments, including the co-founder of the course.

Goldsmiths UCU executive committee member Catherine Rottenberg told the Guardian: “What’s clear to me is that the media pressure worked initially to get them to at least commit to not closing the programme completely, but what’s also clear is that they’re determined to close these programmes.”

A sociology professor at Goldsmiths told Research Professional she has lost her faith in academic meritocracy after receiving a redundancy letter and The Stage has reported that Dramaturgs, academics and students have criticised redundancies affecting Goldsmiths, University of London’s theatre and arts departments, calling them symptomatic of a “severance” of the arts education pipeline.

Glasgow University pay-day chaos

University of Glasgow staff have been left ‘concerned’ after waking to find their wages missing from bank accounts, reported Yahoo News. Speaking to the outlet, UCU Scotland official Mary Senior said: “We know of around 9,000 staff who the University of Glasgow has not paid today. It appears this is due to a banking error, but our members urgently need their wages, so we expect the university and its bank to fix this as soon as humanly possible.”

This year’s AGM was held on the 3rd July and was conducted on-line. Due to a mixture of factors (leave, workload etc.) the AGM was held in July contrary to our local rules which require the AGM to be held ‘before the end of June’. Committee believes that changes to the university leave year will lead to a persistent difficulty as staff endeavour to use up leave over the summer and proposes a change to local rules to accommodate the change (see Motion 1).

Committee would like to express thanks to Steve Rimmer who has stepped down from committee for personal reasons, and welcome Tom Pettinger who was elected to committee at the AGM.

Due to sickness and other unavoidable last minute absences the AGM was presented by Zak Hughes in his capacity as Acting Vice President. The Branch apologises to members for the enforced truncating of business that followed; business not covered during this shortened AGM will be covered at an upcoming EGM.

The PowerPoint presentation slides and minutes of the meeting can be found below..

Voters back using public money to bail out UK universities

Around three in four voters (74%) think the next government should step in with emergency funding for universities in financial crisis, reported Times Higher.

The poll, by Savanta on behalf of UCU, showed more than eight in 10 (81%) of those who intend to vote Labour and 77% of those who intend to vote Conservative back government intervention for institutions at risk of closure.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady told Times Higher: ‘This polling shows the British public wants the incoming government to step in and provide urgent financial support to any university at risk of going under. If elected into office next week, the Labour Party has rightly said higher education will be a day-one priority, but it also needs to realise that reckless market dogma has pushed universities to the brink and offer realistic solutions to the crisis. To stave off collapse, higher education must be publicly funded, anything less would be a historic failure.’

Unions look to improved employment relations under a Labour government

On the second anniversary of strikes which have seen hundreds of thousands of workers take industrial action union leaders reflected on industrial relations under the Tories and set out what they expect from Labour, reported The Evening Standard. Unions accused the Conservative Government of misjudging the public mood over strikes following an unprecedented wave of industrial action stretching back two years

Jo Grady told The Independent: ‘Two years on from the summer of discontent, workers across the country have made big gains, and our members have helped lead the way. The University and College Union mobilised like never before, winning not one but two national ballots, and forcing universities to agree to restore our retirement benefits in full. This is the biggest pensions win in British trade union history. Meanwhile, in further education, we took strike action for fair pay across England, winning pay awards of up to 12% at over 60 colleges. We now need to keep up the fight and make sure workers everywhere get their fair share.’

Up to 150 jobs at the University of Hull are at risk

Up to 150 jobs at the University of Hull are at risk as part of a £23m cuts plan because of a claimed drop in income, reported the BBC.

UCU regional official Julie Kelley told the BBC: The cuts would massively increase academic workloads for remaining staff, while degrading the student experience and the quality of teaching provision.’

College staff pass no confidence vote in CEO

Staff at five colleges have passed a vote of no confidence in a CEO in a long-running dispute over pay, reported the BBC. Members of UCU working at colleges which are part of Education Training Collective on Teesside, voted to say they had lost confidence in the group’s CEO Grant Glendinning.

UCU regional support official Chris Robinson told the BBC it was “unfortunate” industrial relations “had been degraded to such an extent” that union members felt they had no option but to move to a motion of no confidence.

“UCU now calls on the ETC governors to step in, show leadership and help prevent any further industrial action being taken,” he added.

500 job cut threat at University of Northampton

The University of Northampton has opened a voluntary severance scheme in an attempt to cut 500 jobs over a claimed £19m deficit due to a drop in international student recruitment, reported the BBC.

UCU Northampton branch secretary Sonya Andermahr told the BBC: ‘UCU’s view is that we broadly welcome the scheme as an alternative to compulsory redundancies. However, we feel that the terms of the scheme mean that it probably won’t have the desired effect of inducing enough staff to leave to make an appreciable difference to the university’s finances. We are seeking to improve the terms at a meeting with the university leadership team next week.’

Universities in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire have spent over £100m making more than 6,000 staff redundant since 2015, the BBC has found. UCU regional official Julie Kelley told the BBC universities had been “hit by the loss of international students”. She added that universities faced a “perfect storm” and it was “a long-running problem”. “We’ve seen some institutions borrow heavily to build fancy new buildings when money was cheap and they are now struggling with the repayments. The impact on staff is huge. Our members are worrying continually about whether the next round of cuts is going to affect them.”

A new Office for Students report warns 40% of England’s universities are expected to run budget deficits this year and that a number face a material risk of closure. Responding to the report, UCU general secretary Jo Grady told The Guardian and Morning Star: ‘The funding model for higher education is broken and needs radical change to put the sector on a firm financial footing. Unfortunately, the Tories seem intent on making the situation worse through constant attacks on migrant students and workers.’

UCU today announced a global academic boycott of Goldsmiths, University of London over the institution’s plans to cut jobs. Staff at Goldsmiths are already undertaking a marking boycott in a dispute over management’s attempt to sack more than one in six academic staff.

With Goldsmiths and its boss Professor Frances Corner refusing to back down from these devastating plans, UCU’s Higher Education Committee (HEC) has approved escalation to an academic boycott, beginning today.

This means the union is calling on members, university workers, trade unionists, and supporters worldwide not to: 

• apply for any advertised jobs at Goldsmiths 
• speak at or organise academic or other conferences at Goldsmiths 
• give lectures at Goldsmiths 
• accept positions as visiting professors or researchers at Goldsmiths 
• accept new contracts as external examiners for taught courses at Goldsmiths.

Further details can be found here

A well attended meeting heard reports of various industrial relations matters including the MARS scheme update and news of the planned closure of Inprint & Design. A link to the PPT slides is at the foot of this article.

Attendees were also addressed by the General Secretary of UCU, Dr Jo Grady who gave an update on the national picture, campaigning strategies, and an upcoming campaign focussed on helping LA’s campaign on local issues.

Members were also asked to consider motions on the plans for a review of the recognition agreement and job security

Motion 1: Recognition Agreement.

The branch authorises the branch committee to: ​

• Work with the employer to re-establish an organisational change forum ​
• Proceed with exploring negotiations for a new partnership agreement

The motion was carried with no abstentions or votes against.

Motion 2: Job Security and Conditions.

• The measures taken by the employer must not deleteriously affect (1) job security or (2) working conditions​
• Any moves by the employer that do not meet the branch’s requirements will move towards a dispute ​
• That the branch offers solidarity to all UCU branches currently in dispute

The motion was carried with no abstentions or votes against.