{"id":787336,"date":"2026-09-30T10:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T10:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/787336\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T10:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T10:42:11","slug":"edinburgh-joins-uk-universities-heading-for-strikes-as-cuts-spread-through-entire-sector-universities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/787336\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh joins UK universities heading for strikes as cuts spread through entire sector | Universities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome classes for students at the University of Edinburgh<\/a> this year didn\u2019t focus on the lectures, seminars and essays expected. Instead, students were told about how their education was going to fit in around the strikes planned for this year, which for many will effectively wipe out a term of teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis term I\u2019ve got two courses and my dissertation. Currently, I\u2019ve got no teaching for five weeks,\u201d said Theo Warshaw, 22, in his final year studying geography at Edinburgh, where staff are striking over budget cuts and compulsory redundancies needed to bridge what the university\u2019s leaders have said is a \u00a3400m shortfall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a shame that students are the only bargaining chip they really have. But I understand it. I would obviously rather it didn\u2019t happen but I do get it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one goes into academia to drive a Ferrari or live in a mansion. They do it because they love it. They don\u2019t want to be striking. They just want a little bit of job security,\u201d said Warshaw.<\/p>\n

But similar conversations are taking place at universities across the UK, as administrators grapple with tuition fees eroded by inflation, a drop in international recruitment and changing patterns of demand as students shift away from arts and humanities subjects towards more vocational subjects in science, law and business.<\/p>\n

When University and College Union (UCU) staff in Edinburgh launched their industrial action, their colleagues at the University of Dundee were embarking on a five-week strike. And this week UCU staff at the University of Nottingham<\/a> announced a further round of strikes starting on Monday 5 October and lasting until the end of the semester in December, a stretch of 10 consecutive weeks.<\/p>\n

Strike ballots, marking boycotts and votes of no confidence in leadership punctuated campus life in spring and summer, as universities announced course and department closures and redundancies, leading one UCU officer to note that it was easier to list the universities that had avoided being in dispute with their staff so far.<\/p>\n

Lopa Leach, professor of vascular biology and immediate past president of Nottingham\u2019s UCU branch, said: \u201cThe word is carnage, it is carnage what they are doing now \u2013 at the local level and also at the national, senior management level in the UK. Why are they thinking about the destruction of higher education?\u201d<\/p>\n

Nottingham\u2019s industrial action has been brewing since its management declared that an \u00a385m deficit required dramatic restructuring, including a plan announced in May to cut nearly 10% of its 7,000 effective full-time positions and suspending entry to all modern language and music courses for new students.<\/p>\n

Nick Clare, the current branch president, said that while the strikes were frustrating for students, the uncertainty was being caused by the university\u2019s demands for restructuring, which had left hundreds of staff unsure of their future, while watching colleagues take voluntary redundancy and leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met my new master\u2019s students yesterday, and I said: \u2018I don\u2019t know if I can teach the rest of this course because my job is at risk and I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll still be here,\u2019\u201d Clare said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are appalled and they understand that many of the things they like about this university are under threat \u2013 the small group teaching, getting to know staff, all the things they appreciate are the things that are going to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo students are angry, but they are angry at what\u2019s happening, not at staff. Honestly I\u2019ve never seen more support or solidarity from our students, having been at Nottingham for more than 10 years. Returning students get it, new students get it, it\u2019s amazing in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clare said that the university\u2019s offer of voluntary redundancy had probably been popular enough to wipe out the deficit, leading him to question why the administration was insisting on going ahead with steeper cuts.<\/p>\n

Clare warned of a potential \u201cdeath spiral\u201d hitting the university if its cuts went too far and harmed its standings in international league tables and research income, causing it to shed students and talented staff.<\/p>\n

Leach and Clare both warned that the cuts planned at Nottingham were likely to be repeated across the UK because of the nationwide similarities in funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, higher education doesn\u2019t seem to be a top priority,\u201d Clare said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to take something bad to happen, it\u2019s going to take a university to go under, a so-called elite institution where the children of MPs or journalists go, for people to take notice. If a Russell group university goes bust people might stand up \u2013 we really don\u2019t want that to happen but that\u2019s my fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for students at Nottingham, Dundee and Edinburgh, the bad news is already very real.<\/p>\n

One English literature student at Edinburgh, who asked to remain anonymous, said her GCSEs were cancelled because of Covid. Now her classes have been cancelled due to the strikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s completely understandable. I\u2019m very sympathetic to their situation. They\u2019ve all been very clear with us about why they need to do it and it\u2019s impacting them as well, because obviously they\u2019re not being paid,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s frustrating for me. It\u2019s nerve-racking. I\u2019m in my fourth year, my final year, which is 100% of the degree, marks-wise. I\u2019m stressed, because I know missing out on teaching is a shame. It\u2019s a key part of the education process, and I was looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prof Peter Mathieson, the vice-chancellor of Edinburgh, said: \u201cWe are extremely disappointed that, despite ongoing discussions, the UCU has announced five weeks\u2019 strike action, which will unfairly and deliberately target our students\u2019 first semester of the academic year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we recognise the right of staff to take this action, I want to assure our students that we will continue to do everything we can to mitigate the impacts of that action on them. In addition, we remain firmly committed to constructive and transparent engagement with our joint unions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome classes for students at the University of Edinburgh this year didn\u2019t focus on the lectures, seminars and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-787336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}