Genuine question: When there is a drought imminent should data centre (and industrial) water use be rationed before hosepipe and other water use bans, or would that be more harmful?
Totally agree. Redundancies and precarity, active, looming, past, impact how we think, and think about things. Constant threats suffocate creativity and the ability to go down rabbit holes and emerge with ideas and shape them into new knowledge.
Grumpy Philosopher@stevecooke.org · 2w agoToday I'm working on wonder & animal rights again. I ended-up engaged with the philosophy of wonder by thinking about the role of mystery, then wonder, to accounts of magic in fantasy fiction & games. Nothing to do with work, not part of a 'research agenda' or medium-to-long-term research plan.
‘Thousands of university job cuts in humanities and social sciences are creating widespread cold spots for languages, classics and theology degrees, the British Academy has warned’ www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities
Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year
theguardian.com
"This is a crisis for social mobility, young people’s careers, the skills our economy depends on and the opportunities available in communities across the UK" Our newest data covered by The Guardian this evening and dropping tomorrow morning to our SHAPE Observatory. shorturl.at/Qpa9Q
Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities
Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year
theguardian.com
Update. Google used to return a million answers. An LLM can produce one persuasive answer. A library helps you know whether it is right...
✊QM UCU supports branches currently on strike!✊ All over the country, the sector is facing mass redundancies, mergers, and deteriorating working conditions. But they don't take on an isolated group of workers! We stand together and support each other across branches! (1/2)
'The decision to slash funding for creative subjects comes despite the field being named as one of the UK’s “highest potential sectors” in the government’s industrial strategy.' 1/2
Cuts to creative courses ‘undermining government’s own strategy’
Arts institutions warn creative education is becoming increasingly hard to deliver as government slashes funding from September onwards
timeshighereducation.com
I'm re-re-posting this significant article: "The open-source archive now contains more than 500,000 digitized photographs, identification papers, diaries, maps, films, and letters, many of which were collected directly from Palestinian families and might otherwise have been lost forever."
How Palestinians Are Building a Digital Archive That Can’t Be Erased
Distributed backups, cyber resilience, and a half-million records are preserving Palestinian history beyond any single building or border.
wired.com
The new academic year starts in 2 months. The modules to run are set in stone even if the all-new first year ones haven’t yet been designed. All that remains is to decide which 3 of the 23 of us will still be here to teach them. The redundancy selection criteria has not yet been announced…
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · last mo.'Academics fear they are being “set up to fail” after several institutions finished the academic year by announcing fresh job cuts, casting doubt over who will return after the summer break, and what courses they will be teaching.' 1/3
They are trying to force some universities into bankruptcy. Total madness. Remember - they have pledged more money to a privately owned theme park than they‘re going to spend on the teaching grant.
Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social · last mo.The Department for Education has confirmed that universities will receive £50.9 million less in teaching grants next academic year. Bridget Phillipson, the education minister has defended the reduction in light of tuition fee rises. https://ow.ly/6UWJ50ZkLlf
This will be so detrimental to so many universities. We know that the arts are always targeted, but nursing???? This government "strategy" is completely mind-boggling. #UKHE
Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social · last mo.The Department for Education has confirmed that universities will receive £50.9 million less in teaching grants next academic year. Bridget Phillipson, the education minister has defended the reduction in light of tuition fee rises. https://ow.ly/6UWJ50ZkLlf
Excellent but devastating thread on the UKHE cuts...
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · last mo.First they came for the languages. In the hope that no one would have the words to say what was happening. 1/9🧵
People need to realise that university leaders care more about rankings than the excellence those rankings are supposed to represent. If they think they can keep the ranking while sacrificing the excellence, they will - so long as it looks good on a balance sheet.
Laurence Totelin@ltotelin.bsky.social · last mo.Solidarity to all colleagues at Exeter, of course, but thinking that one's department/uni is safe because it ranks high (insert any other reason) is naive and problematic. The entire sector is in trouble unfortunately 1/2
The Norwich History Festival programme has launched! Running from 17th-25th July, with nine days of talks, walks, film, theatre and exhibitions. This year's theme is 'Rebels and Radicals'. Take a look at what's on: www.norwichhistoryfestival.co.uk
Exactly. Without its staff what exactly is the university trying to sustain in this hyper move to cut jobs. What is its purpose?
Dr Ellie Mackin Roberts@elliemackinroberts.net · last mo.I am once again begging universities to realise that staff - academic, professional services, estates, all of them - are the product they are trying to sell. Without staff there is nothing to sell. No amount of flashy buildings will replace staff in universities. UKHE is in freefall.
A grim day in a grim week in a grim month for UK higher education, with Dundee, Exeter and Hertfordshire all making major announcements of planned redundancies. Shrinkage of the research & teaching base by the invisible hand's visible fist is not an 'us' or 'them', SHAPE or STEM phenomenon. 1/2
#UCU members: UCU's guide for branch officers has been updated following the draft EHRC Code of Practice. @ucu.org.uk #UKHE www.ucu.org.uk/media/15820/...
ucu.org.uk
'Despite calls on ministers to redress declines in the amount the state pays to universities, the Department for Education (DfE) is planning to announce the Strategic Priorities Grant for 2026-27 will be cut back to about £1.25 billion – down from £1.35 billion'. How to show you hate HE. 1/3
Government to cut university teaching grant by £100 million
Coming reduction in funding for high-cost subjects and access programmes ‘extraordinarily frustrating’, says Universities UK leader
timeshighereducation.com
A system that relies on persistently and increasingly robbing Peter to pay Paul is simply not sustainable. From student loans to Strategic Priorities to draconian student visa regimes, government is opting to asset-strip higher education. Will your children and grandchildren thank them for it? 3/3
I have seen a few academics offering their takes on English HE in the last week. I don't think the issue of insolvency is really being grasped in these. Basically, it is worse than people think ... The Education Committee gives a good account of the issue: committees.parliament.uk/work/9012/hi...
Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students - Committees - UK Parliament
The UK’s higher education sector is in trouble. Dozens of universities are making redundancies and cuts to courses, trying to stay afloat amid uncertainty over where their money is coming from. ...
committees.parliament.uk
We used to talk about the University as an "anxiety machine", producing intolerable working conditions (slowness, for example, was a response), but it's really become a "grief machine" and I'm not sure we know what to do with the pain and loss yet.
21 Group@21group.bsky.social · 2mo agoBonfire of the Universities continues 600 staff at Sussex Uni will receive notification that their positions are “at risk” & asked to volunteer for redundancy If 200 volunteers don't come forward, compulsory redundancies will follow Grim & upsetting www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
This is a very clear (and depressing) articulation of the current state of UK higher education by Stefan Collini. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Stefan Collini · Squadrons of Pigs: Bonfire of the Universities
The problems with Britain’s universities are systemic and deep-rooted, not just local or contingent. Yet political and...
lrb.co.uk
Martin D.B. Brown@martindbbrown.bsky.social · 2mo agoStefan Collini · Squadrons of Pigs: Bonfire of the Universities www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Really curious if @andyburnham.bsky.social has anything different to offer UK universities that are drowning right now.
'The University of Sussex has said it plans to cut 200 jobs as part of an attempt to save £35m annually. The facility in Brighton will begin a 45-day consultation on Thursday over the potential redundancies, which include roles in admissions, student support and IT services.' 1/3
University of Sussex aims to cut 200 jobs in £35m annual savings drive
Trade union Unison says the cuts will only heap "strain and uncertainty" on the staff who remain.
bbc.co.uk
It's like no one knows what universities are for anymore. They're being used to plug systemic failures in the labour market that they aren't responsible for, but are now implicated in. I am so enraged by how cruelly we are treating our young people...
Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social · 2mo agoUniversities must provide more of the types of experiences that would once have been gained during first graduate job, says Manchester vice-chancellor
Equality is not conditional. Dignity at work is not negotiable. The EHRC Code of Practice has been published. UCU is examining it urgently. This is a significant and unsettling moment and we will not leave branches to navigate it alone. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1451...
