The biggest issue we’ve been facing at work of late is the ‘action short of a strike’ which the Association of Union Teachers has called to last indefinitely. The AUT action consists of a refusal to cover for absent staff and a boycott of all assessment work. With finals fast approaching, higher education is potentially facing some months of serious disruption.
The dispute is chiefly over pay and conditions, but is also an expression of concern at the proposed ending of national pay bargaining (letting each university set pay levels for its lecturers) and frustration that the union has been thrown out of pay negotiations. When levels of pay for academics have been falling in real terms for such a long time, the prospect of losing what little bargaining muscle they retain is an understandable concern.
On top of that, there is a process currently taking place called the Higher Education Roles Analysis, which many universities are using to help them work out pay scales more clearly for the many different types of staff. That works well for staff whose primary job role is also their only job roll, but for those administrative staff who also do some teaching (pretty common in IT, for example) this is sometimes resulting in pay cuts, with no reduction in workload.
As a students’ union, we’re rather caught. We’re meant to represent the students, and current students’ interests are clearly at risk. If finals are cancelled then there will be serious problems with issuing degrees. Even if they’re not, students rely on feedback on assessed work as they prepare for their exams. On the other hand, pay for teaching staff has been an ongoing issue for at least a decade now and with mounting student debts it is unlikely that the sector will retain the quality of staff it needs unless something is done.
Our current position is to try and hold these two sides in tension, informing students of the issues and reminding them that their contract is with the University, and so it is the Vice-Chancellor’s responsibility to use his lobbying power to persuade UCEA (Universities and Colleges Employers Association, the body which currently negotiates on HE pay) to invite AUT back around the table.
But this situation is a telling one, and not of something which is limited to England, or even to the UK. Investment in Higher Education compared to the funding required for government targets has been going down rapidly for some time, both in the UK and in the US (and perhaps further afield, but I know less about HE outside of these two countries).
US colleges saw massive fee hikes of up to 40% in the past year, and state funding for scholarships and other bursaries necessary to help students from poorer backgrounds handle the burden of exorbitant tuition costs is plummeting and governors and state congresses try to cut budgets and look for easy victims. In the UK, the spectre of ’top-up fees’ looms ever larger, but it is dwarfed by the actual financial needs of universities, needs government proposals will not come near to addressing.
Higher Education, governments consistently tell us, is vital for the further development of our society (for which read: economy). The Skills Agenda, the introduction of Foundation Degrees, reviews of 14-19 education, they’re all intended to be part of a strategy to widen participation in higher education to reach government and CBI targets. Widening Participation is a laudable agenda, particularly where it increases access to higher education for those from non-traditional backgrounds, building a more equitable society. But perhaps it’s time commitment to numbers became commitment to concepts, and Higher Education were properly supported.
Entering into negotiation with the AUT would be a good first step, and would save thousands of students considerable stress over the coming months.
UPDATE: Since this entry was written, AUT appear to have been invited back to the negoiating table. So far (at least according to my AUT contact) UCEA have not indicated that they are willing to negotiate at that table, but talking at all is a big step. We can only hope that a reasonable and speedy resolution follows.