UCU Commons

Hey #UKHE, #UCU: our members at Brunel have set up a petition against compulsory redundancies, please sign and share!

Hey #UKHE, #UCU: our members at Brunel have set up a petition against compulsory redundancies, please sign and share!

Sending your members all our solidarity! Our work is impossible without the work and dedication of your members.

Thank you so much for your support!

It's worth adding that while the hack of 2+ years ago has been dreadful for British Library users, it is also been awful for BL staff, who cannot fulfil readers' requests and are then confronted by their consequent frustration. With no end in sight.

@pcsunion.bsky.social staff at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social are on strike for the next two weeks. As a @ucu.org.uk member who loves to spend time at the BL whenever I'm in London, I'm in full solidarity with the staff.

Remember guys, @pcsunion.bsky.social staff at the BL are on strike for the next two weeks. Please don't cross the picket line to go to reading rooms, attend exhibitions or anything else. They've endured so much on low pay since the cyberattack in 2023 and the least we can do is have their backs now.

#UCU #HE #UKHE

We are in full solidarity with the @pcsunion.bsky.social members at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social who will be on strike for the next two weeks. Let's get out to their pickets and rallies to show our support, @ucu.org.uk members! Details below. @pcspress.bsky.social

It shouldn't take an FOI request to see grant success rates. UKRI has a duty of care to researchers to supply this from the outset. We are judged, compared, promoted (or not) according to unbelievably bad odds.

Solent University threatens P&O-style 'Fire & Rehire' with pension cuts UCU today announced that it has entered a formal trade dispute with Southampton Solent University over plans to force all its staff onto inferior pension schemes, paving the way for a strike ballot if...

Unprecedented, potentially unlawful retrograde proposals made by @solentuniversity.bsky.social

If you have a vested interest in HE, this concerns you.

We must stand together to resist these outrageous proposals.

#HE #TPS #LGPS #Pension #post-92

www.ucu.org.uk/article/1423...

I missed posting about this yesterday but the second issue of our newsletter is out! Please subscribe to receive updates every second Wednesday. #UCU #UKHE

UCU Commons newsletter #2 Our fortnightly round-up of union and sector specific news

Commons newsletter #2 just dropped, feat. info on Commons, UCU & sector-wide matters. Subscribe to receive updates! #UCU #UKHE

With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!

ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...

We are now on Bluesky! Show us some love and hit the follow button 💜

#UHI #ThinkUHI #UCU #UCUScotland

@ucu.org.uk @ucuscotland.bsky.social

Delighted for the UCU branch at the University of the West of Scotland, who have called off planned strike action at the 11th hour when management ruled out compulsory redundancies. If you can I suggest donating to EIS’s strike fund as they were out for 8 days before action was pulled. #UCU #UKHE

UCU Commons newsletter #2 Our fortnightly round-up of union and sector specific news

Commons newsletter #2 just dropped, feat. info on Commons, UCU & sector-wide matters. Subscribe to receive updates! #UCU #UKHE

With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!

ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...

The offices of Redbrick, University of Birmingham student newspaper founded in 1936!

Can student journalism survive and thrive?

Tanshpreet Kaur and I spent part of the summer talking to student journalists and other interested parties. Our report focuses on Redbrick, the flagship paper here at Birmingham. You can read it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1QiJG...

My dudes in Government, this is the opposite of helpful.

I think at this point that it’s hard to read the Government’s plan as anything other than “shrink the number of HE providers”.

Whether they are also intending to shrink the number of students is perhaps slightly more open.

🎙 Coming up next Thursday!

UCU GS Dr Jo Grady will join Iain Dale live on LBC for a special phone-in.

🗓 Thursday 23 October, 8–9pm 📞 Call in. Listen in. Be there.

Let’s make sure the public knows what’s really happening in higher education.

#WeAreTheUniversity

Academic freedom and the knowledge commons By Matilda Fitzmaurice and Dion Georgiou This article represents an attempt to establish some basic, but contingent, principles on academic freedom. It does not put forward a ‘UCU Commons position’…

Several Commons members attended the Academic Freedom conference, co-hosted by @ucu.org.uk and @eduinternational.bsky.social . Report forthcoming, but for now @matildaf.bsky.social and @drdiongeorgiou.bsky.social on 'Academic Freedom and the Knowledge Commons' (2024)

ucucommons.org/2024/03/22/a...

Setting The Agenda for Change in Higher Education: Lessons from Australia A discussion paper by Mark Pendleton (UK-elected HE) [Featured photo: the Australian national flag flying beside the Aboriginal Flag of Australia] Preface UCU Commons has long argued for more delib…

UCU hasn't focused on university governance, but it should. Like their Australian counterparts, British universities are "profoundly undemocratic." @markpendleton.bsky.social is right we should learn from those in Australia who are taking the fight forward on this! ucucommons.org/2025/10/03/s...

Setting The Agenda for Change in Higher Education: Lessons from Australia A discussion paper by Mark Pendleton (UK-elected HE) [Featured photo: the Australian national flag flying beside the Aboriginal Flag of Australia] Preface UCU Commons has long argued for more delib…

UK-elected rep @markpendleton.bsky.social is bringing this discussion paper to HEC on 10 October 2025, about what we can learn from our counterparts in Australia, the NTEU, who are beginning to change the narrative about the future of higher education. #UKHE #UCU

ucucommons.org/2025/10/03/s...

Congrats to Dave! We’re really excited about this 💫 #UKHE

A new initiative from @ucucommons.bsky.social - key updates from our work in UCU, the union more widely, and highlight news from our sectors. Expect it to drop every two weeks.

The first of @ucucommons.bsky.social new fortnightly newsletter bringing news and points of interest around the sector #ucu

Excellent newsletter ❤️💜🩷💜

Cutting Corners: a message to the next Vice Chancellor at Goldsmiths On 1 October 2025, a short announcement was put on Goldsmiths’ website to say that Vice Chancellor Frances Corner was stepping down with immediate effect. This came off the back of an announcement …

I wrote something on my time on returning to Goldsmiths as an associate lecturer, 17 years after graduating with my first degree. It’s a plea to Frances Corner’s successor to learn from mistakes made over the last 6 years and change course. #UCU #UKHE

ucucommons.org/2025/10/06/c...

UCU Commons newsletter #1 A new fortnightly round-up of union and sector specific news

The first issue of our fortnightly newsletter has landed!

Featuring @markpendleton.bsky.social’s discussion paper to this Friday’s HEC, @hagenilda.bsky.social’s plea to Frances Corner’s successor and other interesting links and news. #UCU #UKHE #AcademicSky

ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...

UCU statement on Manchester synagogue attack UCU said it is horrified by the appalling attack at the Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester during Yom Kippur.

#ucu: statement from @drjogrady.bsky.social on the Manchester synagogue attack: www.ucu.org.uk/article/1421...

If a university thinks it’s the ‘best’ it should take people with low or no prior attainment and prove it. Otherwise it’s just cherry-picking and claiming unearned credit.