"Consultancies have been accused of infiltrating universities, wasting scarce public funds on questionable advice about cutting courses and jobs, and undermining the sector's principles of public good." Cut consultants. Not staff.

Good HE is really simple: quality time spent with subject experts who know and care about their students. My university and many others are deliberately abandoning this truth in favour of financial and organisational efficiency.

👀

Some reading while we await the recommendations from KPMG about how to make QMU a sustainable business...

Guys I’m not sure everything is going great in the higher education sector.

The Friday afternoon email is such a classic 👌🏻

Nothing reassures staff that they "are at the heart of everything we do" like telling languages and cultural studies staff in LINCS to dismantle their own jobs by instructing them to delete the courses and programs they work on. Where is the concern for staff welfare? #Heriot-Watt #UCU #LINCS

Jesus Christ. University leadership never pay the price of the messes they create. Never. They just collect their severance payments and move on to the next opportunity to unleash chaos.

Please join our Edinburgh Napier colleagues if you can

You can always tell an institution’s values based off of how it *spends* money. Even in capitalism, the goal isn’t straightforwardly to make money. It’s about power. And some things are considered worthless no matter the monetary gains while others are considered valuable no matter the cost.

UK university staff: have you feared for your job at any point during the past two years? How confident are you that redundancies are less likely this year than they were last year? This is your last chance to let us know in our UK Redundancy Survey. @timeshighered.bsky.social

Crikey!

Just a reminder that your eballot link has been sent by University and College Union - [email protected] Fantastic turnout so far but we want everyone's say, please vote!

Students were shocked to learn of student support services and academic staff job cuts at ENU "We aren't being told anything by our university. Students just find out when the member of staff has already gone. People are worried how this will affect their course and the support they can get."

Just a reminder that your eballot link has been sent by University and College Union - [email protected] Fantastic turnout so far but we want everyone's say, please vote!

We're going to try to gather as many members as we can over here now that we've opened a consultative eballot following today's announcement that compulsory redundancies cannot be ruled out after a 3 week uni-wide voluntary redundancy window - QMU folk, where are you?!

Solidarity with colleagues at the University of Edinburgh striking this week ✊🏻

For colleagues following us here who may have missed the emails - please sign the petition against terms in the Hybrid Working Policy (specifically requiring staff to work on campus ≥50% of their time) speakout.web.ucu.org.uk/hybrid-worki...

Where management chooses to spend money is a political choice: qmucu.org/2025/06/26/s...

QMUL cut 200 roles in the past two years: qmucu.org/2025/06/26/s... #SaveHE #UKHE

Last year we ran a survey on UK HE redundancies. Based on 349 responses, the UNIVERSITIES DEGRADED REPORT uncovers awful conditions, targeting of marginalised groups, & far more cuts than estimated. People's stories matter. We can hold leaders to account. Please share widely tinyurl.com/48nzf7ew

Women’s rights 🤝 LGBT+ rights As committees we do not recognise any conflict between our rights to bodily autonomy and dignity. We utterly reject this ruling.

Happy May Day and Solidarity with branches out on the picket today: @bcu-ucu.bsky.social @uea-ucu.bsky.social @sheffielducu.bsky.social @ducu.bsky.social did we miss any?

UCU stands with trans people, today and every day. The Supreme Court ruling is not just wrong, it’s dangerous. We will never stop fighting for trans rights and equality. #TransRightsAreHumanRights #Solidarity

Spotted on campus this morning. Thanks to the person who posted this.

The Scottish TUC is warning of more redundancies at three more Scottish universities - Glasgow, Robert Gordon and Strathclyde. At this level of funding, and with this structure, the Scottish Higher Ed system is basically holed below the waterline. www.aberdeenlive.news/news/scottis...

Hello @ucu.org.uk @ucuscotland.bsky.social members at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh - and beyond! We're over here now. Please let folk know 💬 #UCURising