Tag: he

What Do University Cleaners and Lecturers Have in Common? A Short History
As the LSE cleaners' strike continues, Laura Schwartz argues the university management's intransigence is about averting a victory which will benefit all higher education workers.
HE Reforms Have Been Rocked, but the Student Movement Must Keep Pressure On
This week the House of Lords passed an amendment to the HE Reform Bill, uncoupling the link between the 'Teaching Excellence Framework' and fresh fee hikes. Yet it's no time for the student movement to rest on its laurels, argues Ana Oppenheim.
Open Letter: The Government’s Education Policies are Attacking BME and Migrant Students
The home secretary has pledged to reduce the number of non-EU international students enrolled at British universities from 300,000 to 170,000, representing a further attack on migrant and BME students.
Education Not Segregation: A Serious Strategy for Educational Reform for the Labour Party
Angela Rayner’s speech at the Labour party conference indicated the possibilities for a radical alternative for education, but what would a long-term strategy look like?
Reducing ‘Drop-Out’ Rates for Black Students Means Institutional Transformation, Not Individual Support
Black students are 50% more likely to drop out of university than their peers, but as long as solutions are geared towards individual ‘support’, the government’s commitment to racial equality remains superficial.
2 Steps Towards the Socialisation of the UCU Strike
Yesterday members of the University and College Union finished a 48 hour strike. Officially the dispute is over pay, but if staff and students want to take on the central issue - the marketisation of the sector - it will require some innovation.
3 Threats from the HE White Paper and 1 Way to Block the Government’s Plans
The new higher education white paper seeks to fundamentally overhaul the sector as we know it. But the plans depend on metrics extracted from student feedback, presenting students with a unique opportunity to sabotage the government's vision.
What Is a Union For?
Sunday Long Read: Just part of the fallout of the recent NUS conference has been a conservative-led wave of calls for SUs to disaffiliate. At its root is a battle over the very purpose of a union.
5 Insights from Number 10’s Leaked HE Briefing
Last week a photojournalist caught sight of an internal government briefing concerning proposed reforms to higher education. The document reveals that HE policy is in crisis.
4 Reasons Why #RhodesMustFall in Oxford – and Everywhere Else
Following a huge campaign to remove a statue of the colonialist Cecil Rhodes from Oriel College, Oxford, leaked documents show the college has caved to donors threatening to withdraw their money. Of course, the campaign is about far more than the statue.
Walkout, strike…then strike again? Next steps for the UK student movement
Medical doctors are being squeezed and the recent HE Green Paper signals tuition fees could rise again before long. The UK student movement intends to escalate its tactics: can it succeed where the 2010 student movement failed?
Free Education, the Middle Classes and Radical Education Policy: a 5-Point Analysis
Nearly half of the UK's young people are going to university, so where does the institutional privilege lie and what can we say about social mobility? If the demand for free education is to be successful, we need a class analysis of HE.
A Few Reasons Why Changes to Student Loan Repayments Could Decimate Your Income
With the post-2012 fee regime now costing as much as the old one, student loan repayments are changing. Here's why the most boringly packaged part of the budget is likely to make graduates poorer.
6 Things Warwick University’s New Temp Agency Tells Us About Academic Precarity
Warwick University has announced plans to employ all casual staff through an internal temp agency. Anti-casualisation campaigners have targeted the move as an insidious form of outsourcing which threatens the whole sector.
3 Reasons the UAL Occupation Matters to FE, HE and the Free Education Movement
Like other recent direct actions such as at LSE, the University of the Arts London occupation is rooted in the free education movement. But the task of articulating longer term goals alongside combating immediate course cuts presents fresh challenges for students in the face of an ongoing restructuring of education.
5 Reasons the Graduate Tax isn’t a Patch on Free Education
In the face of a burgeoning free education movement, Labour is making noises about reducing the fee cap and moving to a graduate tax model. But can this really match up to what the free education movement is demanding? (Spoiler: no.)
Profits, pay days and protest: 7 Reasons University Pay Gaps Need to Be Tackled
In the first few weeks of 2015, most university vice-chancellors will earn more than their lowest paid member of staff will take home all year. Josh Berlyne from the Free University of Sheffield argues that these inequalities have no place in the future of higher education.
4 Nails in the Coffin of the NUS
While campuses across the country are gearing up for the national free education demonstration on 19 November, the National Union of Students leadership has dramatically pulled its support in spite of the wishes of its national executive committee and those organising the march. While many were angered by the U-turn, few experienced activists could claim to be surprised.