Report: Students at UK Universities Are Helping Develop Killer Robots
by Zac Larkham
Chronic underfunding in higher education is allowing the arms industry to step in and fuel autonomous weapons systems research, reports Zac Larkham.
Tag: higher education
Report: York Students on Rent Strike Celebrate After Debt Collectors Called Off
by Ella Glover
Strike organisers at the Russell Group institution allege the university has threatened international students with 'deportation' and refused to negotiate. But on Monday, a new offer was put forward.
Report: A Prestigious London University Has Suspended Four Latinx Cleaners for Protesting Racist Pay, Falsely Accusing Them of Violence
by Polly Smythe
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is embroiled in another race scandal. Polly Smythe reports.
Analysis: How Striking Lecturers Won Their Students’ Support
by Alessio Koliulis
On the final day of UCU strikes, academic Alessio Koliulis reflects on the rebuilding of staff-student solidarity.
Opinion: University Students, Get Your Asses on the Picket Line
by Zac Larkham
The ongoing UCU strikes have had a mixed reception from students. But learning conditions depend on the strikes' success, writes student organiser Zac Larkham.
Opinion: Students’ Unions Are Demanding a Covid-19 Discount. They Should Be Demanding Much More
by Sarah Cundy
By complaining to the manager, SUs are buying into the logic of marketisation and stifling more radical students' demands, argues Manchester University student Sarah Cundy.
Opinion: Attacks on the Arts Are Part of the Tories’ Culture War
by Chardine Taylor-Stone
Earlier this month the government announced plans to cut funding for arts subjects at universities by 50%. Why? Because attacks on the arts play into the Tories’ confected culture war between salt-of-the-earth folk with ‘proper’ jobs and the ‘metropolitan elite’, argues Chardine Taylor-Stone.
Opinion: Reopening Universities Isn’t Just a Threat to Staff and Students – It’s a Threat to Communities Too
by Sarah Kraus
Reopening universities in the middle of a pandemic is a threat to the safety of staff and students. In cities like Coventry, already hit badly by Covid-19, there’s also a huge risk to the local community, writes Sarah Kraus.
Why Are University Staff Going on Strike? Here’s What You Need to Know
by Oliver Eagleton
University staff across the UK walk out tomorrow for the first time since March 2018. The strike resumes the struggle over detrimental pension changes, with further demands on casualisation and equal pay.
5 Reasons We Should Abolish Oxbridge
by Angus Satow
Every year, another educational access report prompts outrage at how over-represented private schools are at Oxford and Cambridge. But amidst these ritual furores, the existence of these elite universities is never called into question. Angus Satow lays out five reasons we should abolish Oxbridge altogether.
“It’s strikes that win”: UCU, Students and the Fight Against Outsourcing
by Joe Hayns
Over the last two days, more than 100 outsourced staff have stopped work at UoL in what will likely be the largest outsourced workers’ strike in higher education history.
Should Students Demand Refunds? 3 Perspectives on Student Demands in the UCU Strike
by Illan rua Wall, Myka Tucker-Abramson, Hope Worsdale, Elio Di Muccio
Should students demand tuition fee refunds for days lost to strike action? The response to the demand has been mixed, with no clear dividing line between those who are for and against the strike.
Support the UCU Strike
Today was the first of fourteen days of strike action by the University and Colleges Union (UCU) over proposed 40% cuts to the USS pensions scheme. 61 campuses are taking part in the largest strike action in UK Higher education history. Callum Cant went to the picket lines to find out more.
5 Reflections on Trans Liberation in Higher Education
by Luke Dukinfield
As trans issues become more visible, a reactionary backlash is surging to deride, undermine and repress the voices of trans communities. In this context, it is now more important than ever to examine how our universities have become a key site of contention around trans politics.
The Occupation Is Over, But Justice for SOAS Workers Must Still Be Fought For
by Charlie Macnamara
Outsourced staff at SOAS have won their most pressing demands, but management's behaviour, and the ubiquity of outsourcing at UK universities, means the struggle cannot end here.
“We Are Workers”: U.S. Graduate Student Workers Fight for Union Recognition
by Grant Macdonald
Graduate student workers are fighting for union recognition. But universities are blocking their efforts, knowing that if they obstruct long enough, Donald Trump could rescue them from having to afford them their rights.
‘A Battle for the Soul of UCL’: The Academics Confronting Corporatisation in Higher Education
by Charlie Macnamara
A group of senior UCL academics have successfully challenged an attempt by management to wrest even more democratic control of the university from those who work there. But with the corporatisation of higher education sweeping across the UK, this fight will need to be taken beyond UCL.
Organised Rage: The LSE Cleaners Strike
by Joe Hayns
The LSE cleaners, represented by United Voices of the World, have staged a two day strike to fight for sick pay, maternity and paternity leave, and pensions. Led by migrants and women, the strike shows the potential for grassroots, fighting trade unions to win big victories.