Industrial action disrupts university terms across the UK

Industrial action at UK universities, including Dundee, Nottingham and Edinburgh, is disrupting teaching across the country. 

Under heightened levels of industrial action, students feel as if they are being shortchanged for the exceptionally high tuition fees they pay to attend university. While lecturers argue they are working as hard as they can to maintain a high standard of education, universities across the country are cancelling teaching for terms at a time.  

Lecturers, focusing on those at the University of Nottingham where the strikes are most severe, are, and have been, striking due to threatened job security across many departments, including foreign languages and music.  

Although the number of threatened jobs has decreased since May, from 609 to 480, the staff who are members of the UCU (University and College Union) refuse to rule out further strikes in 2027.  

Our industrial action mandate is until April 2027, so there is still scope for additional action

Professor Andereas Bieler, Vice President of the University of Nottingham’s UCU

Professor Andereas Bieler, the Vice President of Nottingham’s local UCU branch, blames these cuts on “significant financial mismanagement,” and further states that “our industrial action mandate is until April 2027, so there is still scope for additional action.”  

Students across all years at these universities feel the pressure, both from the lack of teaching now, and fear about their future prospects. 

Zoe Monroe, an English Literature and Creative Writing student at the University of Nottingham, clearly explains her concerns for her prospects: “People will be less likely to accept University of Nottingham students and feel as if we are less qualified and we are going to be offered less opportunities.”  

Isaac Wood, a third-year politics and international relations student explains the frustrating conundrum felt among students: “I support [the lecturers] and I wish them all the best but it is starting to become a little strenuous.”  

Further evidence also suggests that more Universities will follow Nottingham, Dundee, and Edinburgh very soon.  

The biggest crisis in university funding in a generation

Gregor Gall, Industrial relations expert 

91% of UCU members at the University of Exeter voted in favour of strike action as the university looks to cut 200 jobs in what Gregor Gall, an industrial relations expert, calls “the biggest crisis in university funding in a generation.”  

The University of Lincoln, the University of Sunderland, and Glasgow Caledonian University are moving closer to take similar action. Gall hopes this industrial action will serve as a successful appeal to the Prime Minister, demonstrating “the acute nature of the crisis.”