"executives with no understanding of the industry" seems to be an endemic problem across industries: higher education, medicine, you name it, a bunch of suits with MBAs and unearned arrogance are destroying everything around us, and for some reason, we're supposed to accept that they know best

@ucu.org.uk @ucucommons.org @uculeft.bsky.social @newcastleucu.bsky.social @tucneyh.bsky.social @tuc.org.uk @unisoninhe.bsky.social @unison.org.uk www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-e...

Missed the VC’s speech? Lucky you. Here’s the financial highlights! 1/ Confirmed Exeter uni is STILL IN SURPLUS for 25/26 2/ The top 16 execs at Exeter have a combined pay packet of nearly £4m 3/ The VC has a pay packet of nearly £400k a year 4/ Our cash reserves are going up, year on year [1/2]

There's been some confusion about what the #TPS situation means. This should clear it up: it's good news!

Super helpful TPS explainer here from @bparsia.bsky.social. Also useful in setting out how USS and TPS differ. #UCU #UKHE

Super helpful since I made this mistake

Yes, TPS reduction of Employer Contributions IS A GOOD THING (and no you won't get less pension because of it)

Our very own @bparsia.bsky.social has done a useful #TPS explainer for those who might be puzzled. #UCU

And they turned too on the chemists. Who were expensive, and surely not relevant to the industrial strategy. 6/9

And they turned too on the nurses. Whose education was surplus to requirements even as humans' health needs skyrocketed. 7/9

Newsletter #21! Feat. report 1 May NEC; @hagenilda.bsky.social anticas motion; @davehitchcock.bsky.social post-92 meet; @markpendleton.bsky.social HE strategy; @profalexp.bsky.social on Exeter; @matheleine.bsky.social EHRC guidelines; @rotster.net James Purnell! #UCU ucucommons.org/ucu-commons-...

Exceptionally important and positive news for our sectors!! #UCU #UKHE

No, this doesn't mean member contributions go up. This is vg news all around.

If anyone is desperate to know my opinion on James Purnell, you can find it here. Also some other interesting stuff.

Proud of this, as always, and of all the work we've been doing #UCU #UKHE

21 issues; still going strong 👏🏼 bravo to the @ucucommons.org crew

Newsletter #21 is here! Come and get it! #UCU #UKHE And if you're not already subscribed, why not do it now?

Newsletter #21! Feat. report 1 May NEC; @hagenilda.bsky.social anticas motion; @davehitchcock.bsky.social post-92 meet; @markpendleton.bsky.social HE strategy; @profalexp.bsky.social on Exeter; @matheleine.bsky.social EHRC guidelines; @rotster.net James Purnell! #UCU ucucommons.org/ucu-commons-...

Brilliant that Jo is working to get another UCU advisory committee to open its nomination process.

I really hope this actually makes a difference and co-options become an exception!

Really great stuff from Jo. This will also save work for everyone as there will be no need to manage co-options, which are also less democratic than elections. #UCU

As a casualised member with no branch at this current moment, the idea I should have to have a branch nomination to do anti-casualisation work is patently absurd. Let's get this changed and let's get more members on board. #UCU

Jo Edge @hagenilda.bsky.social, co-chair of @ucu.org.uk's Anti-Casualisation Committee, is bringing the following paper and motion to the meeting of ACC on 8 July. If passed and then approved by NEC, it will make the process of nominating to ACC much easier. #UCU ucucommons.org/rule-change-...

I’d love it if you’d sign this. It might not prevent me and my colleagues losing our jobs, but it will draw attention to the ideological vandalism being perpetrated by the wealthy execs running our university. Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter - sign the petition below! c.org/NpvY4sR9gH

Thanks @ucucommons.org!

Please sign this petition - now over 9k sigs - to stop the philistinic slashing of Humanities and Social Sciences staff at Exeter. #UCU #UKHE All solidarity with my brilliant friends and colleagues at @exeterucu.bsky.social

Please sign this petition, and if you're in any position to do so, please support your local + not-so-local universities. The sector needs a holistic approach. It needs diverse courses across every geographic area + not the death spiral individual executive boards seem hellbent on.

Colleagues at Exeter have asked me to circulate this petition as widely as possible: www.change.org/p/stop-redun...

There is currently an open letter and petition in the works - not normally one to recommend Insta but follow www.instagram.com/p/DZ9heELjlX... for more info as + when things are happening

More awful news from Exeter. Solidarity with all colleagues who got horrible news today.

And Exeter has weathered a lot of the UKHE financial BS far better than most for various structural reasons.

Appalling. Hard to believe that Higher Ed has been one of the most successful areas of power and discovery. Far too many jobs being lost. Destruction of talent and insight.

'The University of Exeter is proposing to cut about 150 staff roles. A spokesperson for the university said it was "consulting with colleagues over limited and specific potential changes across some areas of our academic faculties".' 1/4

Despicable: Uni of Exeter putting over 500 staff at risk of compulsory redundancy. Thoughts are with all Exeter branch comrades. #UCU #UKHE

Excellent to hear this piece get a shout out at NEC last week!

It is indeed a wonderful post, full of learning and reflection on two very different policy-setting processes

I cannot stress enough how good this is. It's a must-read. I was so happy it got such positive feedback at NEC! #UCU #UKHE

ICYMI from our blog: Michael Bartlett's wonderful reflective piece on Congress, which deservedly received high praise at Friday's NEC! #UCU #UKHE

"No Ukrainian socialists, trade unionists, feminists or LGBTQ+ activists have been invited to speak at this conference. Our voices — the voices of those resisting imperialism, fighting for social justice, and living this war — are absent." ukrainesolidaritycampaign.org/2026/06/19/o...

#UCU members: UCU's guide for branch officers has been updated following the draft EHRC Code of Practice. @ucu.org.uk #UKHE www.ucu.org.uk/media/15820/...

This important stuff 🏳️‍⚧️👏🏼

Super impressed with this. Clear and sets out how branches should go about dealing with any changes to gendered facilities in their workplaces. #UCU #UKHE

Excellent piece by @matildaf.bsky.social on climate change and the attack on HE. ucucommons.org/we-shouldnt-...

This is a great piece. I'm really glad Tilly wrote it, and especially pleased that the gorgeous Rylands Beatus ark got used as a picture. Note the double latrine bottom right #UCU #UKHE

An excellent piece from @matildaf.bsky.social

This is such a good piece by @matildaf.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/mati...

Again for the morning crowd. I wrote this because I'm troubled by the recent rash of 'lamentation' pieces about the so-called death of the university, and because I strongly feel climate analogies need to be used ethically and responsibly. #UKHE #UCU

Yes to all of this on the ubiquitous doom and gloom about the appalling state of British higher education: “we ought to be building solidarity and acknowledging efforts to hold back the tide”

This is really good. Read it.