New on the blog: a post before tomorrow's Emergency General Meeting, outlining plans for a discussion about how to seek to engage with SMT over the coming term, and a motion for the Equalities Conference:

🎓To all students getting results today - congratulations on your hard work and achievements. Whatever your next step, we’re fighting for a fairer, properly funded education system where all students can thrive without debt or hardship.

*internal anti-casualised screaming*

This. The government has created those conditions but they are then described as though"that's just the way it is".

As we move into the next phase of the admissions cycle with results on Thursday, and the inevitable implications of that for 2025-26 institutional budgets, we strongly encourage everyone to keep a close eye on how those budgets are being managed in their institutions...

The results of our Vote of No Confidence are now out. Members voted in favour of a VONC, with a very strong preference for expressing no confidence in both the VCP and SMT. Find out more on the blog, and watch out for an invitation to an EGM in September.

Now up on the blog: a reflection on the urgency of developing a sustainable strategy in order to preserve the College's legacy.

...I mean, we'd hope this might prompt some reflection on value for money from consultants, but we know that's far too optimistic.

The results of our Vote of No Confidence are now out. Members voted in favour of a VONC, with a very strong preference for expressing no confidence in both the VCP and SMT. Find out more on the blog, and watch out for an invitation to an EGM in September.

Are you involved in preventing harassment and sexual misconduct in higher education? Ever wondered about how to reach postgraduate research students with your work? We've just launched a toolkit to help! ukcge.ac.uk/assets/resou...

Members have been e-mailed this morning about a Vote Of No Confidence. Please do check your inboxes for details and the voting link.

Members have been e-mailed this morning about a Vote Of No Confidence. Please do check your inboxes for details and the voting link.

We are pleased that at the Townhall with University staff and in an interview with The Courier, Prof. Nigel Seaton confirmed that “There’s no plan to have redundancies afterwards [after VS]. There’s no secret plan B where we might have redundancies.” www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/politics/...

Please sign to halt outsourcing plans 👇 University of Surrey proposes to employ all new Professional Services staff through a subsidiary company on lesser T&Cs. This is an existential threat to our university & sector. speakout.web.ucu.org.uk/operate-surr... @ucu.org.uk

The results of the De Montfort university UCU branch's formal No Confidence ballot have now been confirmed: a resounding 90% voted no confidence in the VC and the ULB This is the fourth significant No Confidence vote passed during the current round of proposed redundancies

Huge congratulations to our comrades at @ducuuo.bsky.social - an absolutely outstanding result, and one that hopefully indicates a new way of collaborating with the incoming management team picking up quite a lot of pieces.

Question: does NOUS simply not do contracts? That’s a whole lot of money to spend without a contract, especially since all the other consultancies (Deloitte: £600,000; QS: £250,000) in that same Freedom of Information request did draw up paperwork. #UKHE www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/educati...

DMU has made it back into Private Eye's latest edition thanks to the legal situation around its Dubai campus. As noted by @privateeyenews.bsky.social the apparent lack of due diligence on this matter is deeply troubling.

Members should check their inboxes for what looks like an interesting @ucu.org.uk CPD session on Divestment, Reinvestment, and Ethical Finance Training on 8th July - given the proposed restructuring plans currently in development, this is a great chance to get more familiar with university finances.

Amazing work by @newcastleucu.bsky.social - shows what can be done with solidarity and persistence!

This is what happens when SMT's refuse to be transparent with or accountable to the community they serve www.bbc.com/news/article...

Standing behind what our co-president has named "The Wall Of Lost Staff". We're striking because we need to know that the wall isn't going to get any longer.

Our tribute to our former colleagues, lost to a "voluntary" severance process under the shadow of compulsory redundancy. Each figure is a colleague gone, each door a vacancy closed to rehiring.

The previous VC had 'an "overbearing leadership style" and a dislike of potentially awkward confrontations or questioning'. #UKHE 'leadership' has GOT to learn that the only way forward is through conversation not diktat. Stop depicting people asking questions as attackers; they're *helpful*.

Today I am ON STRIKE. I'm striking because the University of Edinburgh has claimed the need for 'savings' in staff costs amounting to £90 million. The Union estimates this to be more than 1000 staff. (Not because of everyone being on 90k+, but because of the attendant 'savings' from mass layoffs)

It's our open day today and I'm on strike with @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social. Management plans to cut £140 million are opportunistic, misguided and wrong, and will harm the future of the university. Read our Joint Unions Financial Working Group blog: www.ucuedinburgh.org.uk/blog/2eppzf7...

The @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social picket at Edinburgh Futures Institute is assembling

In light of the catastrophic failings of governance and financial management at the University of Dundee, we continue our fight to save jobs. We’re asking for a commitment to no compulsory redundancies and the removal of the currently active Section 188. #SaveDundeeUni #SaveHE

"The university needs to look at the election of a leadership that staff can get behind and which is committed to resolving the current situation without the use of compulsory redundancies.” @carloucu.bsky.social @ducuuo.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/news/2525296...

With high temperatures this week it's important to be mindful of the adverse effects that the heat can pose, as well as your rights in the workplace during warm weather. Learn more ⬇️

At 2pm today the Independent Investigation led by Pamela Gillies and BDO in to the crisis at the University of Dundee will be shared with staff. Our local newspaper, The Courier, have a live blog throughout the day. www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/politics/...

Today Stirling launches a voluntary severance scheme (of which the branch was only notified hours before its announcement on Monday) designed to recoup an eye watering £8.1 million pounds next year. We know colleagues are scared; if you haven't already joined the union, this is a good time to do so

We will continue to fight on behalf of our members’ jobs, conditions, and the academic disciplines being decimated with every tool at our disposal including consulting our members about future industrial action.

"When global consulting firm Nous Group arrives at a university, the company blueprint is always the same: weaken the academe, centralise power and cut staff." Purely accidental that that's happening here, obviously. After they deemed Schools' autonomy a 'problem' nousgroup.com/case-studies...

www.timeshighereducation.com/news/de-mont... Thanks to THE for their attention to this matter. We have long been arguing against the DMU Dubai project and this situation is deeply concerning. @timeshighered.bsky.social

As one of the UEA eight, I think this is a very important question.

From the university where the Vice Chancellor is holding Dialogues on Freedom of Speech, we learn... "Barrister raised concerns that several staff members pulled out of providing testimony over fears they would face retaliation" Sometimes, it is difficult to find the words... 21percent.org?p=2234

REF2029 in a job crisis full stop. Carrying on with this mostly pointless exercise while the sector implodes is a ridiculous waste of resources. Cancel it and revisit in 2035.

Students pay attention to how much the university leaders are making whilst making drastic cuts to teaching. DMU leadership seems not to be interested in moderate pay reductions to help contribute to "necessary" cost cuts.

NEW: Confront investigation into the ongoing repercussions of the asbestos industry in UK universities. Decades after asbestos was banned we reveal the remaining asbestos still present on campuses, related illnesses, and enormous costs universities are left with. confrontpower.org/the-enduring...

A couple of new posts on the blog: the first explains that we have, sadly, reopened the #equalities dispute with the SMT which we paused last year:

NEW on the blog: we give an update on committee work using Freedom of Information requests to get information from College:

While RHUL is not yet looking at redundancies, it is unlikely we will remain immune when the rest of the sector is suffering in this way. The disconnect between how universities conduct themselves and the language they use to talk about themselves is particularly concerning.

NEW on the blog: we give an update on committee work using Freedom of Information requests to get information from College:

A couple of new posts on the blog: the first explains that we have, sadly, reopened the #equalities dispute with the SMT which we paused last year:

Huge solidarity to @newcastleucu.bsky.social having an amazing rally today + to all branches on strike/facing redundancies. All @ucu.org.uk post-16 education staff deserve job security and fair pay, essential for our regions’ prosperity. #NOredundancies #DefendHE #SpreadTheResistance #Solidarity

Solidarity with @newcastleucu.bsky.social and all branches taking action in defence of jobs and conditions right now. We’re in Newcastle today for a national demo to #DefendHE #NoRedundancies #DefendEducation #StopTheCuts t.co/ZzwgiJ3gSs