HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) have changed, but have we? As we approach 2030 with the global goals of zero new HIV cases and zero stigma, we must ensure that no one affected by HIV is left behind in our universities or colleges, or their surrounding communities. Conference notes that […]
Conference motions
The government’s immigration white paper rests on a dangerous presumption: that international students of today may seek asylum tomorrow. This framing is not evidence-based policy, but an attempt to appease the far right’s narrow and racially divisive agenda. To cast students as potential “abusers” of the system is both false and dehumanising, undermining the values […]
Higher Education is an area that is directly impacted by devolution and conference recognises that the sector faces different challenges and funding models in each of the four nations. While providing challenges, devolution can also bring opportunities. This has meant that our Higher Education (HE) committees in the devolved nations (Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) […]
Conference notes: 1)Continued austerity across the sector has forced university workers in many institutions to take action to resist redundancies, course closures and cost-cutting measures; 2)For workers taking strike action, or any other form of protest, solidarity greetings from other unions and branches are a valuable resource, which raises the profile of the struggle and […]
Conference notes: 1)That the University and College Union (UCU) have announced that they are seeking to raise a dispute over HE funding with the Secretary of State for Education (and equivalent in Scotland); 2)We too have seen a growing crisis in HE under a broken funding model which does not meet the needs of the […]
The Higher Education (HE) sector has a funding crisis with a reported 40% of Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) being in financial deficit. Universities have responded in a number of ways to the detriment of our members. As budgets are cut HEIs are undertaking drastic cost-cutting measures, cutting courses, consolidating departments, delaying maintenance, increasing class sizes, […]
Conference notes the Higher Education (HE) sector across the UK in turmoil and seeing widespread staffing cuts, restructures, and redundancy programmes. Disabled staff are disproportionately affected by these cuts due to structural inequalities, discrimination, and a lack of proper implementation of reasonable adjustments. Many disabled workers in HE are employed on part-time, fixed-term, or lower-grade […]
Conference notes: 1)In September, the universities of Kent and Greenwich announced plans to merge, to form “the first-of-its-kind multi university group”; 2)Until recently, assumptions have been that mergers between universities may well take place, given the starving of funds from central government, which is well documented elsewhere; 3)The assumption would be that two universities in […]
Conference notes: 1)The insultingly low pay increase in 2025/26 of 1.4% and the industrial action ballots organised by HE unions in pursuit of higher offers; 2)The beginning of the talks under the auspices of Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) on contract types, equalities pay gaps, workload, and spine pay review, suspended once the unions’ […]
Conference notes: 1)The continued crisis in HE funding with job losses, increasing workloads, insulting pay offers, and mergers; 2)The continued failure of the Government to address the issue; 3)The upcoming Government consultation on HE funding; 4)Our funding campaign of 2024-25 including successful lobbies of the UK Parliament, the Welsh Parliament, and the Scottish Parliament, funding […]
Conference notes: 1)Higher Education in our society plays a significant role. Grand places of learning, created and developed over centuries, are now combined with more modern creations, uniting world-class teaching and research with industrial innovation and vocational education; 2)The histories of all four nations can’t be separated from the evolution of universities, students’ unions and […]
Conference believes It is unacceptable that international students are once again made to pay the price for the government’s pandering to right-wing scapegoating of migrants. This is not only unjust—it is a direct attack on higher education at a time of national crisis in the sector. The government’s immigration white paper proposes cutting graduate visas […]
Conference recognises that arts education is integral to a culturally rich society. The current crisis unfolding in Higher Education often disproportionately affects Arts Education; whether that be through cuts to funding for Creative arts courses or cuts to art programmes that support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Art courses are disappearing from the curriculum in […]
Conference notes: 1)The alarming rise in support for Reform and the fact that they now control several councils; 2)The small but not impossible prospect of them being the biggest party in the next UK general election and being able to form a government, if not on their own, in coalition; 3)The increasing mainstreaming of far-right […]
Conference notes that digital technology is increasingly used in all areas of the workplace, from HR systems and e-learning to rota management, payslips, communication tools and performance monitoring. Staff in lower-paid, part-time, shift-based, or frontline roles such as portering, cleaning, catering, and other manual roles are often excluded from digital systems or not provided with […]