Billy Jones, Gloucestershire Socialist Party
Administrative staff, such as those working in IT and student services, are being put between a rock and a hard place. Either quit your job in the middle of this dire economy, or be the one to stay on, and see your workload increase to unmanageable proportions.
The Times has revealed that universities spent £400 million on redundancy payouts in the last 12 months – a 60% increase from the previous year. ‘Rising financial pressures’ have led to many courses being shut down completely, in particular humanities subjects.
But where does the blame for this lie? The Times puts it on ‘stagnating domestic tuition fees’. But tuition fees are rising. They were £9,000 in 2016, and will be over £10,000 next year.
University was once free. So where is the money that students pay in fees really going?
You would think it would be used to pay for better courses, better accommodation, and better access to support from key staff. Clearly the opposite is true.
When education is run like a business, the only people who benefit are the rich. Education should only have one goal – education, not making profits. For example, instead of focusing on education, the University of Birmingham talks about “long-term strategic ambitions”.
It’s time students and staff joined together to fight back. On 20 November, student and youth organisations across Europe – including Socialist Students – are coming together for a day of joint strikes and mobilisation, under the slogan: ‘Fight for our futures, not their wars’.
The University and College Union (UCU) is also balloting its members in further education for strike action to demand a pay rise this autumn, alongside other workers. Workers in Unison union at Gloucestershire uni took strike action at the end of the last academic term over low pay, long hours, and lack of holidays.
It is only through this kind of coordinated fightback that students will be able to get the top-quality education that they deserve.
