- Conference
- 2024 National Higher Education Conference
- Date
- 11 October 2023
- Decision
- Carried
Conference Notes:
Public services have been systematically underfunded for years and Higher Education is not exempt from austerity and cutbacks. Whilst different funding systems operate across the four UK nations, delivering funding based on grants, tuition fee loans or both, what unites many Higher Education Institutions is that money is scarce and high inflation has reduced the real-terms value of income streams, whilst costs have massively increased.
Some of the more prestigious universities have managed to partially offset this by recruiting more and more students, in particular, international students willing to pay ever increasing tuition fees. This is creating a significant risk, if and when geopolitical events mean that the supply of students from a major country ends abruptly, but more to the point, universities should not have to rely on volatile income streams for their continued financial stability.
Endless competition between universities for more and more students means that millions of pounds are wasted on marketing, or unnecessarily striking buildings, when higher education institutions should be collaborating. Instability is now a major feature of the system with one university building new classrooms, alongside another closing courses, in the same city.
Some universities, since last year’s Conference, have reported significant financial problems, and this has resulted in moves to force through redundancies and restructures. Our members’ jobs are dependent on financially viable institutions, whether funding comes from tuition fee loans, government grants, research contracts, accommodation fees or international student fees.
Unless there’s a significant shift in funding available, the majority of which currently comes directly or indirectly (i.e. tuition fee loans) from central and/or devolved governments, the situation will get worse.
Whilst we can argue with individual employers about the level of risk we expect them to take to fund nationally or locally agreed decisions over pay and associated costs, some institutions are close to being in major financial difficulties. Competent Vice-Chancellors or Principals will not allow institutions to collapse. They will act to save their own lucrative jobs and careers by downsizing and destroying courses, schools and departments, taking health and safety risks and failing to provide adequate student support etc.
Discussions between UCEA (the employers’ organisation) and the five Higher Education trade unions, will, it is hoped, reach some common understanding of the situation, but we don’t need to wait for reports to know that the situation in many universities is already terrible and likely to get worse.
Conference instructs the Service Group Executive to:
1)Explore the reality of Higher Education finances to better inform our members about the financial situation across the sector and within individual workplaces.
2)Continue to campaign for adequate funding for all higher education institutions, and for this to be in the form of grants.
3)Continue to make sure that our union’s opposition to tuition fees and support for a publicly funded, joined up Higher Education system is prominent in our union’s campaigning material.
4)Seek to support all branches and regions where members are facing job cuts and attacks on their terms and conditions as a result of management’s reaction to inadequate funding.