UCU thinks university rankings are nonsense. But university senior managers love them. They have been boasting about Leicester rising 12 places in the QS rankings. Leicester UCU prepared this infographic to offer a more long-term perspective.
Caren Frosch
@froschlein.bsky.social
Psychology, JDM, running, UCU, personal views
‘Decisions to close or to gut particular departments have little to do with intellectual quality: they are invariably managerial choices about the quickest way to reduce an actual or predicted budget deficit.’ Stefan Collini on UK higher education, in the next issue. 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
This. I don't see a long-term future for UK universities unless: a) we de-professionalise upper management; and b) we ban the use of external consultants
Frank Witte 🇪🇺 🇳🇱 🇩🇪 🇨🇵@alarcos.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe issues raised in this piece apply equally well, and perhaps even more urgently, to UK universities. Having been an elected Faculty Council member & Chair in the years before coming to the UK my impression is that managerial overreach and democratic deficits are even starker in the UK.
Bristol’s experience also shows how restructures can centralise power, blur accountability and quietly shift admin work from Professional Services staff onto academics already at capacity. The promised gains in agility and collaboration have largely not materialised in lived experience. 4/4
Thanks to our speakers from the affected areas, Leicester and District Trades Union Council, and the UCU president Maria Chondrogianni and everyone who joined us today at the Festival of Solidarity!
Thank you @chondrogianni.bsky.social for speaking @leicesterucu.bsky.social Festival of Solidarity where we celebrated our unity in fighting job cuts.
Huge thanks to @samfr.bsky.social for writing this great piece on the crisis in UK unis. But the process of disintegration is far, far, too advanced for anything other than a salvage job. Even if we slammed the brakes on now it'd take 2-3 years just to stop. (1/4) observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Why saving universities is far more than academic
Modern Britain needs young people with degrees – here’s how to make sure they still have somewhere to study them
observer.co.uk
The situation for staff in UK universities has worsened since the 2024/25 data (see @qmucu.bsky.social's List of Dread: qmucu.org/qmul-transfo...), so join the union and look out for each other, because individuals can't address this problem on their own. 3/3 manyheadedmonster.com/2026/04/23/h...
Historians, PhDs and Jobs in 2026
Brodie Waddell When I last wrote about the employment situation for historians back in 2023, the situation was not looking very bright. It has, however, somehow gotten much worse since then. This s…
manyheadedmonster.com
Program is coming together nicely. If you’re in Leicester do come and join us - all supporters of our struggle welcome!
Leicester UCU@leicesterucu.bsky.social · 4mo agoSave the date!
Reduce Your UCU Subscription Cost by Claiming Tax Relief As we’ve entered a new tax year, it’s a great time to remind #UCU members that you may be able to reduce the cost of your union subscription by claiming tax relief from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Click the link for more details.
Reduce Your UCU Subscription Cost by Claiming Tax Relief – Loughborough UCU
As we’ve entered a new tax year, it’s a great time to remind UCU members that you may be able to reduce the cost of your union subscription by claiming tax relief from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
ucu.lboro.ac.uk
Thanks for this powerful piece. Worth adding that the consultancies' cut-and-paste prescriptions always fall hardest on professional serviced colleagues: www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-un...
How universities have been reorganised into incompetence
The people who administer the work of universities are known as professional services staff, or PS for short. As if their work was some sort of additional postscript to what universities do.
linkedin.com
Academic staff at Coventry University are being TUPEd into subsidiary People’s Futures Ltd, listed on Companies House as an “employment agency”. This move onto inferior terms & conditions breaches the post-92 National Agreement and raises serious questions about the future of academics in HE.
Well that's it: Film Studies and Modern Languages programmes to close at Leicester Uni. Sad and wrong. Every day, the UK becomes a little less outward looking.
🚨 FIFTH consecutive vote for industrial action 🚨 🔥 Two week ballot window 🔥 75% turnout 🔥 73% YES to strike action 🔥 81% YES to ASOS Our members will not tolerate victimisation and won’t be intimidated. UCU staff are not the enemy. It’s beyond time for the GS to talk to us. #HandsOffMarie
All members are invited to our General Meeting next Wednesday, followed by a protest outside Senate at 1pm; on Wednesday, Senior Management will ask Senate to recommend the closure of Modern Languages and Film Studies.
📣 Unite UCU TU Victimisation Strike Rally ⏰ Weds 18 February @ 7pm 📍 In-person: Mechanics’ Institute, Manchester 💻 Online access: unitetheunion-org.zoom.us/j/9198478678... Everyone welcome ✊✊✊
Will be glued to Keith’s updates for the next few days!
Keith@keithdunn.bsky.social · 6mo agoAfter a brief memorial, laz lit the cigarette at 6:00am. The 2026 Barkley Marathons has begun. #BM100
The fact that my trade union is facing allegations of trade union victimisation against its own workers is so deeply sickening that I find it difficult to put into words. Please read and share this excellent thread and support Unite-UCU in their battle for the sort of treatment UCU demands for us.
Lucy Burke@lucyburkemcr.bsky.social · 6mo agoThis is a thread about UCU & what it has become over the last few years. But the first thing I want to say is I didn’t join a union to stay silent or turn my back on a single parent of three facing dismissal on the basis of their trade union activities. Marie Monaghan is the Unite UCU 1/12
We did it! It was a challenge to get the vote out while juggling teaching workload and supporting individual and collective consultation meetings.
Leicester UCU@leicesterucu.bsky.social · 6mo agoBallot results are out! 71.47% in favour of strike action 73.44% in favour of action short of a strike 51.77% turnout
HE disputes aren’t isolated – they’re everywhere. Right now members are fighting redundancies, pensions attacks and worse at Solent, London Met, Durham, Strathclyde, Aberdeen, Heriot-Watt, Leicester, Stirling and more. Our struggles are linked – and so is our solidarity.
Last few days. Post your ballot before it’s too late.
Leicester UCU@leicesterucu.bsky.social · 6mo agoPost by Tuesday at the latest!!
The HSE has issued the University with an enforcement notice over work-related stress, citing breaches of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The University must now improve its stress policy and risk assessments in consultation with staff and unions.
So very true. Grim times in Higher Education. @leicesterucu.bsky.social is right in the middle of this battle. Currently reballoting to extend our mandate for action because it will not end and we will not give up!
Glen O'Hara@gsoh31.bsky.social · 6mo agoBeyond a tiny hardcore of rich universities, if you are an employee in UK Higher Ed you will be somewhere on the treadmill/ slippery slope below. You'll recognise exactly which step you are on at this moment. Take a look. 👇
USS has now agreed to adopt UCU’s proposed three‑leg valuation framework for 2026 – putting best‑estimate assumptions centre stage, making prudence more transparent, and prioritising contribution stability. www.ucu.org.uk/artic... 1/3
USS valuation methodology changes agreed - with more to do
The USS trustee board has recently concluded a review of the methodology to be used in the 2026 valuation and has confirmed that it intends to incorporate a number of UCU proposals.
ucu.org.uk
Staff ,supporters and students gathered outside Firth Court today in solidarity with colleagues locked out and facing withheld pay after lawful strike action at @sheffielducu Punishment is not negotiation. ✊
We’re plenty busy when we’re not fighting redundancies. Never realised how much my union does for the branch until I got more involved.
Leicester UCU@leicesterucu.bsky.social · 6mo agoOn the pickets tomorrow:
