We've had 2 massive mergers in 2 years. In both cases, QMUL refused to hear students (staff was told not to talk about it with students for fear of repercussions), and *after* both of them, management said 'our bad, we'll talk to students next time'. #UKHE managers don't prioritise students.

Horrifying. Especially given how universities put pressure to lower language requirements to capture more students, rather than provide language training to they can achieve Though for clarity: this student's English is perfect. His academic progress is fine & he won an extra grant QMUL is ignoring.

We've been hearing for a couple of years now about how the "Chinese market" (such an awful term for young people looking for the best way to secure their futures) is on the wane. Can't help wondering if part of that is just word getting out that the UK will take your money and leave you to sink.

This needs saying again & again: UK unis are knowingly accepting 1000s of students without the necessary English skills to fully engage with their courses they'll be studying on. And *that's not those students' fault*. Why wouldn't they assume these institutions know how to teach them effectively?

I left the country because I couldn’t cope any more with the endless crisis of UK higher education and Labour abjectly failed to take meaningful action to protect jobs, improve working conditions, or support students

I saw this when I was teaching in 2014: students from China who didn't know that their agents had submitted someone else's TOEFL scores with their applications. They reasonably thought their English must be adequate or they wouldn't have been accepted. It was very hard for them, sad for everybody.

This is the 'shadow economy behind the international student boom' the @financialtimes.com wrote so powerfully about: on.ft.com/4oEk8XO Students in the most vulnerable positions are left exposed, and universities are failing in their duties of safeguarding.

The Russell Group VCs is just sharing scripts for "Town Halls" now as well, aren't they? Word for word copied here...

Nearly two years of showing the realities of the gambles taken by these managers, ministers, and their consultants on the people who do the work of keeping the sector afloat: qmucu.org/qmul-transfo.... Yet outlets still fail to even consider that they might need to include staff in their coverage?

UK universities have undergone academic version of the Post Office’s corporatisation Inflated salaries at the top, institutional opacity, reputation management over justice & power asymmetry are recreating the same conditions for systemic harm New blog posting 21percent.org?p=2896

The UK Government announces plans to "revitalise arts education", including new long-term funding for #music education. @uniofnottingham.bsky.social springs into action by closing all their music courses. #UKHE

yes, and always prioritising the Russell Group's perspective, even though most of us don't work in the Russell Group...how many of these panellists have meaningful experience of universities outside of the RG? (...every single one of them also educated in & connected to the RG)

QMUL acknowledged bullying by upholding a complaint, & confirmed that his academic progress was good by signing off on his progression. Yet they accept the funder's declaration of dissatisfaction & deregister, risking his visa? #UKHE 📸 www.instagram.com/reel/DQzqntL... 🐦 x.com/sism94/statu...

Why are you in academia in the first place? What is it that you want to protect about it? How do you ensure your expertise (in research, in teaching, in administration) is valued?

This ballot is a ballot for the soul of the university. A university does not exist without its staff. Yet staff are the ones who are being cut or made to snap under pressure. Enough. In fighting for dignity for staff we are fighting for the university. Join us and vote YES in the national ballot.

We need a mandate, because managers and their consultants have pivoted the purpose of our institutions from research & education to prioritising financial gain over everything. Enough. Staff and students need to be central in the decision-making processes and priorities again. #SaveHE #WeAreTheUni

Completely agree. As previously discussed, I'll #don a tweed jacket or knitted jumper if it helps for visual academic style shorthand for any invites. The trade press is also really bad at representing these voices though I guess this is it's own thing.

For the record: the comms title we lost 😭

There are a series of petitions relevant to the troubling situation at our fellow East Midlands institution, please do sign them if you can

Anyway, vote YES/YES. We clearly need to shout as staff's attempts are being heard are being ignored otherwise.

Nearly two years of showing the realities of the gambles taken by these managers, ministers, and their consultants on the people who do the work of keeping the sector afloat: qmucu.org/qmul-transfo.... Yet outlets still fail to even consider that they might need to include staff in their coverage?

I find it hard to stay civil when employers suggest cutting DB pensions and replacing them with a DC, they did it at Durham for new staff on grades 5 and below which was a gendered attack on working-class people. It is cruel and nasty. Solidarity in resisting this!

From a @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social member: "it is wrong to frame this as saying staff will have options, when all options correspond to a significant reduction from the status-quo, and the status-quo corresponds to decades long losses in academic pay. This endangers the future of the UK academia."

Someone at a Russell Group university was moved to almost-poetry by their Faculty Meeting… Can anyone do better?

We're really staring at the abyss with how our employers in our sector are treating us.

Looking forward to this #UKHE event on December 4th.

"Labour defines the university as an economic engine, and then suspends the laws of capitalism to expect more output without new investment." 🤷🤷🤷 Reality not big on the agenda of Labour when it comes to #UKHE

This raises serious questions about governance, integrity, and accountability. The Joint Trade Unions have now formally requested: • an independent external investigation, and • an immediate return to negotiations with a fair and improved offer.

A significant new development in the Imperial College pay dispute. The Joint Trade Unions have uncovered that key 2018 pay benchmarking recommendations—based on extensive staff consultation—were quietly set aside by College management. Read the full update here: ucu.imperial.ac.uk/archives/1143

It's not just music and language courses- it's 48 courses across the university. But here's the thing- our UCU colleagues at other universities (like @Cardiffucu.bsky.social) have faced the exact same threats, fought back, and won. So we can too.

You know it's a pretty bad decision when the response from people is to create about 100 different petitions... Sign every one. Let's fight this by all means necessary.

I am hearing that @uniofnottingham.bsky.social is suspending (i.e shutting down) *all modern language courses* in 2026-27. One of the largest departments in the UK. A shocking short sighted move that damages regional and national prospects @britishacademy.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social

On top of the organising we are already doing across the branch, members of the music faculty are doing their own work to address the disgusting cuts to their courses. Reach out if you want to support them!

The marvels that are @leigh-day.bsky.social are here! Brilliant legal minds who've been so supportive of many important fights for the soul of universities.

Documents show that for nearly two years Sheffield Hallam University complied with a demand from a Chinese Government foreign intelligence service to halt research about human rights abuses in China. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Gonna need someone to check the dictionary definition of 'to pre-empt' because what else is this but pre-empting the decision of Council? You'd hope those Council members don't appreciate having their hands tied like this. Because this is proper governance failure.

"the universities intend that London and South East niversity Group will use the existing legal names of the University of Greenwich and the University of Kent as the trading names for the two student-facing academic divisions corresponding to the current universities "

As expected - Greenwich is applying to change its name to ‘London and South East University Group’. www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications... Kent is being absorbed into Greenwich. OfS label it a "merger" The new setup wants to keep the brands - "University of Kent" and "University of Greenwich"

We need a mandate, because managers and their consultants have pivoted the purpose of our institutions from research & education to prioritising financial gain over everything. Enough. Staff and students need to be central in the decision-making processes and priorities again. #SaveHE #WeAreTheUni

This ballot is a ballot for the soul of the university. A university does not exist without its staff. Yet staff are the ones who are being cut or made to snap under pressure. Enough. In fighting for dignity for staff we are fighting for the university. Join us and vote YES in the national ballot.

Why are you in academia in the first place? What is it that you want to protect about it? How do you ensure your expertise (in research, in teaching, in administration) is valued?

Why are YOU voting YES+YES in the current national ballot? We'd be keen to hear members' voices. Pitch your blogpost here: forms.gle/1a8q7HYF76g2... #WeAreTheUniversity #UKHE #UCU

Note the ‘British soil’ bit. My uni has plans to open a campus in China. The VC scoffed at me when I expressed concern that staff and students wouldn’t be able to speak freely, and that - as he said - the curriculum would be censored. It’s the price of doing business.

Hard to think that anybody with experience of UK university senior managements would have confidence that, left to themselves, they'd back academic freedom over an income stream.

Compulsory team teaching on every module is perhaps the biggest ever threat to the quality of teaching in UK universities. It causes chaos on the ground for timetabling, ruins course coherence and turns lecturers into permanent supply teachers. It is pedagogically incoherent… 1/

This entire thread is exactly what's happening in UK universities. It's like they're being run by people who have no idea what university lecturers or even universities actually do. We're not teachers with a fixed syllabus. We're researchers and educators.

Our brilliant post-graduate and casualised staff organisers are now here! Give them a follow: @qm-pact.bsky.social

important (and perhaps obvious) sidenote to the recent Sheffield Hallam case — foreign governments are not the only groups who may want to discourage critical research conducted at universities