Labour announces new international student levy at conference
BBC Westminster Hour opened its coverage of Labour Conference on Sunday evening by interviewing UCU general secretary Jo Grady. Jo said people are calling on Starmer to step down because he hasn’t done enough to help working-class communities.
On Monday, Jo spent the hour with Iain Dale on LBC Cross Question reacting to the Education Secretary’s speech and going toe-to-toe with minister Jacqui Smith. Jo told LBC “The funding system is completely unfit for purpose.”
In response to Bridget Phillipson’s speech, Jo told The Guardian and The Times “Treating international students as cash cows to fund maintenance grants amounts to robbing Peter to pay Paul. Instead of attacking foreign students, the Labour government should be fixing our colleges and universities through huge public investment.”
On Tuesday, Jo reacted to Keir Starmer’s keynote address with Sophy Ridge on Sky News. She told Ridge “50% of FE lecturers leave within three years. In HE, thousands of redundancies are looming. If Labour are serious, we need commitments: close the pay gap, stop the cuts, and invest in education. Otherwise, today’s speech is hollow.”
UCU to ballot 10,000 college staff for strikes at 68 colleges in England
Around 10,000 staff at colleges in England will be balloted for strike action, reported The Independent.
Jo Grady told the outlet, MSN, Yahoo and The Evening Standard “It is unacceptable that following years of pay degradation, college staff are expected to stomach further real-terms pay cuts, while at the same time dealing with ever-higher workloads. The Prime Minister said this week that Labour wants to put further education on an equal footing with higher education, but this will be impossible unless the Government tackles the issues causing half of college teachers to leave the sector within three years.”
Third of women report facing sexual harassment at university
One in three female students say they have endured sexual harassment during their time at university or college, with most of it taking place around campus, according to data published by England’s higher education regulator.
Jo Grady told The Guardian “These shocking figures expose just how widespread sexual harassment and assault are in our universities, with one in four students reporting harassment and one in seven experiencing assault. No one should have to fear abuse, yet institutions are still failing to protect them. It is a national scandal, and vice-chancellors cannot keep turning a blind eye. This demands urgent, sector-wide reform and accountability. Students and staff deserve safe campuses, not excuses.”
New analysis shows Scottish universities facing funding crisis
The horrendous financial position of Scotland’s universities and colleges has been laid bare in incredibly stark new analysis from Scotland’s funding authority, reported The Scotsman.
UCU Scotland official Mary Senior told the paper “The Scottish Government needs to do something significant in the Scottish budget this year…It is clear the marketised approach, which has to rely on commercial income and international tuition fees to prop up is just not working.”
Mary also sounded the alarm on BBC Radio Scotland, telling the station “University staff are living this crisis day to day. It’s unsustainable. We need more public funding, not hidden redundancies and derisory pay awards.”
Teesside told to rethink plans to cut research-focused roles
Teesside University has been warned that it risks losing “years of experience” if it follows through with plans to cut senior academic roles. A planned restructure at the university will see it remove 39 principal lecturer posts across four different schools, reported Times Higher.
Jo Grady told the outlet “Teesside University must urgently rethink these plans and work with us to find an alternative to job losses. Management needs to allow time for genuine negotiations or risk serious disruption on campus at a crucial time of year.”
A university spokesperson said that its review of principal lecturer roles has been “carefully developed to align with the university’s strategy and objectives and to provide leadership roles in the most appropriate areas.”
Leicester staff & students ‘fight for future of university’ amid threat to degrees
Striking staff at the University of Leicester say they are not just fighting for their jobs but for the very future of the institution as entire degrees face the axe, reported The Leicester Mercury.
UCU member James Pickering told the paper he and his colleagues are “upset” and “disappointed” by the threat to their area. He added: “It just feels to me like they’re sort of forgetting what the university is. I’m meant to be giving three lectures today, right? They’re not happening.