Reclaim Higher Education

Students are graduating with a lifetime of debt, spending on staff is at record lows, workload and job insecurity is sky high, and financial inequality across the sector is growing as institutions are forced to battle for student income.

Our sector has been placed at the centre of a divisive culture war - manifested in cuts to arts and humanities funding, surveillance of staff and a damaging instrumentalisation of education where value is measured solely in terms of graduate earnings.

It's time to reclaim higher education for the interests of staff and students. We need radical reform based on the following:

A fair funding model

• an end to tuition fees in higher education
• secure, long-term funding for all subjects and types of higher education institution
• fair distribution of students across the sector
• employers paying more to develop the supply of skilled graduates on which they rely, through a Business Education Tax.

Professional autonomy and respect for staff

• fair and equal pay and an end to exploitative working practices
• collaborative approaches to regulation and quality assurance
• meaningful representation for staff on decision-making structures.

TAKE ACTION

Email your newly elected MP

We will be engaging with your local branches by supporting them to liaise with MPs to build support. You can also help us keep pressure going and drive forward the change that we urgently need to see by writing to your local MP and asking them to get in touch with local HE employers on your behalf as their constituent - you can access an updated template letter to help with this.

UCU members in Scotland: ask your MSPs to sign motion on the Scottish Teachers' Pension Scheme

Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP has lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament on increased employer costs to the Scottish Teachers' Pension Scheme (STPS). The 3% increase will worsen the financial situation in post-92 universities and put jobs at risk. The motion calls on the Scottish government to evaluate urgently the impact of the absence of additional funding for universities covering the increase in STPS contributions on education provision, university access and jobs. Activists and branches in Scotland are asked to encourage their MSPs to sign the motion. You can find out who your MSPs are and their email addresses here. You can also contact MSPs via the 'Write to them' website.

Read UCU's publications on higher education

In 2024 UCU has published new reports on higher education:

• 'Support for research staff', a UCU report based on freedom of information (FOI) requests to 103 UK higher education institutions and which lays bare the extent of shocking 'gig-economy' style employment practices at some of the most prestigious universities in the country 
• 'Academic freedom in the digital university' by Chavan Kissoon and Terence Karran (University of Lincoln): more than eight in 10 (82%) UK academics say universities' excessive use of digital technologies has harmed academic freedom
• 'Assessing the costs of removing undergraduate tuition fees across the UK' by London Economics: a levy of around 1% on employer national insurance contributions for graduates could support the scrapping of tuition fees at no cost to the Exchequer
• 'Non-visibly disabled PGR experiences of studies and careers' by Tanya Osborne (University of Gothenburg), Phoenix Andrews (independent researcher) and Zara Bain (University of Bristol): less than four in ten (36%) postgraduate researchers (PGRs) with non-visible disabilities are happy with the support they receive from their university.

See also 'Harnessing the power of post-compulsory education', a booklet which highlights important ways we can harness the extraordinary power that exists within our post-compulsory education sector if only the conditions are created by the new government to enable this to happen.

Extend your solidarity to current industrial disputes

UCU is determined to resist the waves of job cuts and attacks on working conditions taking place in post-16 education throughout the UK. You can click here for a list of current industrial disputes and find out how you can support them and extend your solidarity. The list is updated continually by UCU staff so please check back regularly.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Details of future events will be updated here.

Previous events

Reclaim Higher Education UCU Live, Wednesday 19 June

Hosted by Afua Hagan, with UCU general secretary Jo Grady, PA industrial correspondent Alan Jones, Goldsmiths UCU, and former Shadow Chancellor of the Exechequer John McDonnell.

Special higher education sector conference, Friday 17 May

The elected representatives of UCU's higher education committee (HEC) have called for a special higher education sector conference (HESC) to identify a strategy for branches to mount a significant, coordinated, sector level response to threats to jobs, disciplines, T&Cs, including attacks on TPS and academic freedom. This will be held on Friday 17 May 2024. Click here for further information including motions debated.

Reclaim Higher Education launch, Thursday 9 May

Reclaim HE launched on Thursday 9 May and you can click here for a recording of the online event.

Post-92 university branches meeting, Wednesday 17 April

A UK-wide post-92 university branches meeting was arranged on Wednesday 17 April 2024. We discussed job cuts, attacks to terms and conditions and threats to our national contracts and agreements.

Campaigning workshop for branches, Tuesday 9 April

We are always stronger when we are united. We want to help branches build solidarity and share strategies to win. As part of this, we are organising a series of campaign workshops for UCU branches facing threats to jobs and working conditions.