Continued strife faces higher education

The higher education sector faces the continuing possibility of industrial action as union members defend both jobs and access.

Strike action planned for 18 May was called off by the UCU lecturers’ union after it defeated plans for a redundancy committee and halted the possibility of compulsory redundancies at University College London (UCL). However, industrial action remains a possibility elsewhere in the sector.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: “UCL tried to set a precedent and show that it was prepared to sack academic staff.” She urged other colleges and universities to learn from what happened at UCL.

The list of institutions at which UCU members have voted for action continued to grow last month. The latest positive votes for a strike and action short of a strike came at the University of Arts London (UAL), where the union said it had spent months seeking meaningful negotiations over a programme of restructuring and course closures.

The union has also been vocal in the debate over funding and access to higher education, currently being considered by the Independent Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance chaired by Lord Browne.

The impact of student debt is one criterion on which the government will judge the report. However, if the Liberal Democrats cannot accept the government’s response to the report, “arrangements will be made” for Lib Dem MPs to abstain in any vote, a coalition statement said.