UCU members to deliver job cuts warning to Downing Street

The protestors will set off from King's College on the Strand at 12.00 and march to Downing Street, where they will hand in a statement addressed to the prime minister warning that over 20,000 jobs are at risk in universities and colleges.
 
The demonstration comes just two days after the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) announced that four-fifths of English universities will see a funding cut in the next academic year (2010-11). UCU says those kind of cuts cannot be made without any impact on the quality of students' education. In further education up to 7,000 jobs are at risk as a result of funding cuts.
 
The union said the government needed to follow the example of countries like France, Germany and America where education was being singled out for extra cash as part of fiscal stimulus plans, rather than punitive cuts. In a damning verdict on widening participation, the union has accused the government of abandoning a generation of students.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'You cannot make cuts without serious consequences. We believe the cuts could lead to thousands of jobs being lost and the staff who survive the cull left with more students to teach and less time to spend with them. Anyone who thinks this won't massively impact on the quality of education in this country is living in a dream world.
 
'The consequences of the cuts will be building projects on hold, class sizes growing where jobs are lost, thousands of students denied access to education and staff following them to the dole queue. Other leading economies are investing money in education in order to help economic growth and widen participation, yet our government seems intent on doing the opposite.'

UPDATE

Videos from the day are now available:

Video of the speeches: