'The key findings were said to be “surprisingly simple”: “a good student academic experience ultimately comes down to quality teaching, access to in person interaction with teachers and a strong sense of belonging”.' 2/3

For further context: almost everyone in the Faculty of Arts is at risk of redundancy. Music, Modern Languages & American & Canadian Studies courses to close completely. History will not close but staff numbers will be significantly reduced. This is what 'right-sizing' looks like, apparently.

Having just spent the day with my fellow governors and executive, I can’t stress how timely this line from the OfS (!!!) is. I should have presented my monorail plans, so optimistic were they.

Very tough week here in Nottingham. 40% of academic posts in my School are being made redundant and the numbers are even higher elsewhere - modern languages and music are being cut completely. The scale of the HE crisis in the UK is almost impossible to comprehend.

If this is true - and certainly it would be a welcome recognition of the politial, moral and economic damage these proposals would do - then the Prime Minister/government should simply come out and say that they are being withdrawn. archive.ph/NaJvy

Students, if you’re thinking about dropping a note to that teacher or professor about what their class/project/mentorship has meant to you, but you worry it will be cringe or cheesy, let me just tell you they will coast on the fuzzy feelings prompted by that note for months, if not years

Nottingham job cuts ‘pose systemic risks to research’, union warns. Research-intensive university told it risks “intellectual stagnation” as 2,700 staff put at risk of redundancy. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

This was the moment five years ago today when two men who had been removed from their home in Glasgow during Eid by immigration officers were released, following a long stand-off between police and protesters on Kenmure Street.

Solidarity with staff at the University of Nottingham @uonucu.bsky.social. We are horrified to hear this news

Tell me- if you need to let 2700 of your employees know that they are in danger of being fired, does that means you are good or bad at running your university? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

So sorry to see the destruction going on at my alma mater (Philosophy and English 2009). Solidarity with Notts staff, from another university attempting to implode.

Incredible to watch Wes Streeting being taken seriously as a candidate. It's the truest form of Westminster bubble to conclude the solution to Starmer is replacing him with an empty suit who's neck deep in Labour's political mess and hated by everyone outside a few centrist crash test dummies. ~Rr

Today’s jobs: - Writing my department’s counter-proposal to the plan to sack over half of us - counselling students - dealing with Canvas hack fallout - trying to imagine what might be taught next semester and by whom (this bit failed).

Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?

British steel also charges its customers, and Scunthorpe alone has had £400m in subsidies. That amount would go a long way towards fixing the immediate crisis in the HE sector. As parliament reported yesterday, Universities are structurally significant to over a hundred towns and cities in the UK.

TODAY: #UCU Anticasualisation Committee are hosting a 1 hour webinar, 12-1pm, on ‘subject to funding’ open ended contracts. Our very own @highamian.bsky.social will share experiences from LSE, followed by Q&A and discussion. Recording will be made available. More info and reg: www.ucu.org.uk/ACC

Come and hear our branch chair discuss open-ended employment contracts that are… well, not so open-ended!

They mess up with no accountability and fail upwards to destroy the next place; staff, students and the local community pay the price.

So the £85million+ spent (aka 'wasted') on a completely failed new city campus has dropped off this news altogether. This disaster was defended repeatedly in Senate by the VC who is now 'excited' by the opportunities presented by ending the careers of 100s of staff. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"As long as financial pressures and current student recruitment trends that vary sharply between different providers continue, course closures and cold spots will grow." @britishacademy.bsky.social updates its 'Cold Spots' mapping of SHAPE subjects with 2024-25 HESA data bit.ly/4uKAXCX #Skystorians

Loads of evidence from e.g. UK and Europe that partial randomisation can proactively enhance diversity of applicant pool and awardee pool. What all responsible funders need to test too is what (if any) impact this allocation method has on outcomes. (To date, know of no reported negative impacts).

Every single member of the History Department at Uni of Nottingham is at risk of redundancy. Every single one of us.

Coincidentally, the number of staff currently at risk of redundancy (2700) at the University of Nottingham is the same as the number of jobs at risk at British Steel. Yesterday, the govt said they aren't neutral on job losses & so pledged to save those steel jobs. Watch as they blithely ignore HE.

Hey Bluesky folks. If you’re in education or just follow for my thirst traps, would you please sign this if you can, and share far and wide? c.org/dCKk9vjqxY It’s much appreciated. My university is cancelling all UG humanities degrees. We need support and love right now x

What the fuck!?! That VC’s a psychopath

Steel industry: £1.1bn in GDP and 20,000 employees University sector: £265bn in GDP and 400,000 employees What the fuck am I missing here.

Okay but before he goes can he make her resign - it'd improve his legacy cheers.

'China contributed the most cities which had seen GDP growth and lowered emissions — 719, including Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. This might reflect the country’s strong air-quality management policies'. 1/2

The problem with Keir Starmer is: He has consistently prioritized power over representation, taken bribes from the wealthy, and consistently punched down until it was clear he would lose votes because of it. The only strong ethical position he has ever adopted is to never ever tax the rich.

In a single sentence, differentiate between Scottish and English/Westminster politics in 2026. 'Despite having no UK citizenship or permanent residency, Manivannan was allowed to stand for Holyrood under recent rule changes which allow anyone living in Scotland to contest devolved elections.' 1/2

All together now! ... "But Nige did take five million quid, and Nige would take five million more!" 💥💥💥 #RefUKkers

It doesn't get bigger than this for a tiny local newsletter. This award is yours too.

Retractions never get proportional attention. This one should.

We know for SHAPE subjects what's lost to UK higher education by current HE policy. (No one seems to be minding the STEM shop by the way). Cold spots for SHAPE subjects now abound. The data are clear: this disproportionately affects disadvantaged students. 8/9 @helenhayes.bsky.social

Is the UK's science base being eroded by policy, or by sleepwalking? As Britons head to the polls, it's timely to recall the hustings at the Royal Society before the last GE. All 3 parties there pledged to support science, & confirmed that included SHAPE disciplines. 1/9

I already wrote what I'd write about Canvas and Instructure last year. The British Library; university cyberattacks; Canvas: it's all the same problem and we all already know a solution. blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

FPTP is never a good system but it is sometimes very funny.

I am seeing a lot of the 'Reform won't be competent' argument coming up. Reform are a 'post competence party'. They exist in a world where neoliberalism has told people politics can't work, and won't. They won't be assessed on competence. Their voters don't expect them to be. /1

🧵 A new Byline Times investigation raises fresh questions over Nigel Farage's claim to have driven the far-right out of British politics.

Labour is losing *seats* to Reform because it's losing *votes* to the Greens (not my analysis, John Curtice's). What chance they will pay attention to this fact and re-consider their strategy of adopting ever more far-right policies on immigration, asylum, protest, genocide? I'm guessing zero.

Some worrying figures here www.thetimes.com/article/d758...

On Friday afternoon before the Bank Holiday, colleagues in the Humanities department were called to a meeting on Tuesday. They were informed that the University Portfolio Review had decided that English Language, English Literature, Philosophy, History & Creative Writing UG degrees would close

The Office for Students employs 475 FTE staff btw. The UK higher ed management class deserves to be prosecuted

I'm still fuming and will be writing to the VC, CFO, Dean, and anyone else involved in this horrific decision. As an hourly paid VL with no work beyond June I've very little to lose.

And Massachusetts has done exactly this with its fair share tax that hypothecates funds for education and transportation.

Imagine your boss emailing you to demand you immediately move to a worse pension scheme and contract or you’re out of the door. That’s what happened to our members at Southampton Solent. They are fighting back. Sign this petition to support them. www.change.org/p/students-s...

Lots of good stuff thus newsletter including me unloading on the OfS.

Lisa @rullsenberg.bsky.social hit the nail on the head The comments by Labour MP @antoniabance.bsky.social on higher education were wrong and symptomatic of the wider UK Labour government‘s ignorance Labour play the fiddle as the HE sector burns because they really don't have a clue of its reach 🤦‍♂️

University of Hertfordshire closes a swathe of Humanities courses, accelerating the sweeping tide against Human-centred disciples in the UK. Because understanding humans is so yesterday today. With such happy consequences, as we see when we look around us.

‘We’re slashing your courses and sacking lecturers and support staff’