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As staff at more than 70 universities walk out on strike, students are standing by their side. Over the coming weeks you will see us on the picket line, holding sit-ins in university buildings and campaigning for better working conditions for our educators and support staff. We know that this is not just a fight for improved pay, workload and pensions: this is a fight for our education.
Since tuition fees were introduced in 1998, higher education in the UK has been run according to market logic. This process was accelerated by the lifting of the student numbers cap, pushing universities to compete for students to stay afloat. The National Union of Students (NUS) is calling for a radical overhaul of this marketised higher education system.
The strikes form part of this picture: as universities increasingly behave like businesses, staff are no longer seen as people to invest in but resources to deploy and dismiss. University staff are treated as casual workers and paid hourly for work that extends beyond their paid time. Research by the University and College Union, which is organising the strikes, shows that 42% of staff on casual contracts have struggled to pay household bills, while others find it difficult to make long-term financial commitments such as buying a house. These financial pressures directly impact on the teaching and support that staff can provide.
Lifting the cap has had other effects. Teaching staff, already under immense pressure, now find their lecture halls overspilling, with some students asked to attend lectures via video link. Likewise, lecturers’ workload is increasing: in 2016, 83% of academic staff said they were working harder, while 26.9% of teaching assistants said they worked more than 60 hours per week.
Instead of investing in high-quality education, vice-chancellors are prioritising the wrong things. They’re spending big on advertising and huge new buildings, while prioritising superficial feedback, such as the National Student Survey results, and the metrics that affect league table positions and their reputation.
Despite this rapid expansion, we know that many universities are in precarious financial situations and have been forced to make cuts. Pay in universities has fallen by 20% since 2009, yet the latest offer from university employers was another below-inflation increase. Employers are also failing to tackle the 15% gender pay gap and 10% black, Asian and minority ethnic pay gap. The logic and forces that have driven down staff pay, conditions and pensions are the same as those that have hiked student fees and rents.
Ultimately, we need more government funding in our education system, and this is part of the reason that our staff are on strike. They recognise that the market is failing all of us. They see first-hand the damage it is doing to students and our education, through increasing financial pressures or worsening mental health.
The NUS believes we need to move to a new university system that prioritises cooperation, partnership and collaboration. We believe our universities should be democratised. Students and staff must have an equal say and ownership over their education, not just the managers at the top.
Universities have attempted to punish students for our support for the strikes. They have threatened international students with revoking their visas if they refuse to cross picket lines. But we’ll continue to support our lecturers.
This doesn’t detract from the fact that many students are worried about the strikes, and are upset that their contact hours will be impacted. But we know if we do not stand in solidarity with our educators today, it is our education that will be in peril tomorrow. We stand with staff because their fight is our fight. We call on those representing universities and employers, and the senior university management, to show their commitment to education and treat those who provide it with dignity, respect and fair pay for their labour.
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