Fund the Future: our campaign to build a better tertiary education sector

We are launching Fund the Future: a UK-wide campaign to protect jobs, secure government funding for tertiary education, and make sure that we emerge from this crisis with a better system than the one we entered it with. 

There will be a live, online launch event this Friday, 12 June from 1pm to 2pm. Please click here to watch via the UCU Facebook page (you do not need a Facebook account to do this and you can watch a recording after the broadcast has ended) and find out what we plan to do over the next coming months and how you can get involved. 

The economic fallout from Covid-19 will hit education harder than any other sector, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. Universities are projected to lose at least £2.5 billion in income over the coming year. Further and adult education could lose as much as £2 billion. We will campaign throughout the union - from branches to regional and devolved national offices all the way up to head office - for income to be underwritten and for employers to adopt a 'jobs first' response to the crisis, prioritising the livelihoods of staff. 

Staff in post-16 education need investment and job security more than ever. UCU has been leading the way in calling for this since the pandemic started. With our 128,000 members, we have the collective power and ability to cause real change in the way our employers behave and the way the system is funded and managed. 

UCU reps and full-time staff are committing all the resources we have to respond to this crisis. We need all of our members to spare as much time as possible over the course of this campaign - even if it is only a few minutes to sign a petition, talk to colleagues in your branch or contact your MP, your actions could collectively make the difference.

Look out for further announcements in your inbox on Friday morning and join our live event from 1pm-2pm to find out about the campaign and how you can support it.