Higher Education

Higher Education

• From toy drones to real ones: the arms trade and education

  

  By allowing the arms trade into schools, colleges and universities, we are teaching children that innovation for the sake of destruction is acceptable and desirable, argues Lucy Nichols

• Universities in 2019: facing the perfect storm

  

  As the Tories' mismanagement of higher education continues, Des Freedman looks at the battles ahead

• Student protests in France and Albania: could Britain be next?

  

  Dragan Plavšić looks at spreading student protest and where it could go next

• French high school students rise against Macron in 'Black Tuesday' protests

  

  Opposing Macron's neoliberal education reforms and police repression, tens of thousands of students are out on strike, vowing to join up the struggles, reports Jack Hazeldine

• Speaking of Universities - book review

  

  Stefan Collini offers a robust critique of the neoliberal academy, but we need an oppositional university as an alternative, argues Oliver Eagleton

• UCU: we are the union

  

  The annual UCU conference has begun and the leadership, unwilling to accept criticism, has acted anti-democratically and with contempt of its members reports Des Freedman

• UCU pensions dispute: the battle is over, but the fight continues

  

  UCU members recently voted to suspend industrial action; the action may be on pause but the dispute is far from over. 

• After Windrush: this racist government must go - Counterfire Freesheet May 2018

  

  Windrush, May 68, Palestine, UCU strike, Marx and more - Counterfire freesheet edition 025, May 2018

• University workers' statement on UCU ballot result

  

  The strike is over: our fight is not

• The case to vote 'no' in the UCU ballot and how we can win

  

  As university workers vote in a ballot on UUK's latest offer, Lee Jones explains why they should vote no and how the campaign to reject the deal can win

• Vote NO: university workers call to reject proposed deal

  

  Lecturers and supporters met at a national activists meeting today to discuss the campaign to reject UUK's proposed deal

• Reject the UUK deal: we need to fight now

  

  In this open letter, university workers from across the country argue that we cannot accept the deal as it stands, and must fight for a No vote

• Update on university pensions dispute

  

  These motions, passed at various branches, offer a guide as to how we should approach the dispute at this critical moment

• University strikes: employers’ retreat needs to be nailed down

  

  As UUK returns with a further offer, Des Freedman takes a look at the immediate options facing university staff involved in the dispute

• The UCU dispute: a lesson in the power of collective action

  

  Solidarity among UCU strikers was not born on social media, but on the mass activity of the picket line, argues Milly Williamson

• We're not going to take it any more - statement from precarious staff at the University of Kent

  

  Following the UCU strike against pension cuts, precarious staff at the University of Kent release a statement demanding no pay cuts for strike action for already poorly paid staff

• Time's up Theresa - Counterfire Freesheet March 2018

  

  Brexit, Corbyn and the Labour right, gender pay gap, commodification of universities and more...

• Lecturers' strike: the rank and file have spoken, now we have to take the lead

  

  Feyzi Ismail reports from outside UCU headquarters as the union’s Higher Education Committee votes to reject the employers’ derisory offer

• Time's up Theresa

  

  With the country in chaos, we need change now - keep up the pressure!

• Lecturers' strike update: no capitulation

  

  Des Freedman and Vladimir Unkovski-Korica explain why the deal between UCU and UUK is bad one and should be rejected

• Lecturers' strike update: together we can win

  

  As the lecturers' stike enters its final week, a lecturer explains what we have achieved and what we still need to do

• Lecturers' strike update: students at Reading University begin occupation

  

  Joining a wave of student occupations that look set to escalate this week, students at Reading University have begun an occupation in solildarity with striking lecturers

• Student Occupations Live #OccupyUUK

  

  Live updates of students occupying university buildings in solidarity with striking lecturers. #UCUstrike #StrikeForUSS

• The lecturers' strikes started in winter but are finishing in spring - weekly briefing

  

  University staff and students have shown that committed and passionate resistance is possible and neccesary, finds Des Freedman

• From a community of scholars to purveyor of degrees: the changing face of the university

  

  Universities are spending money on buildings and not learning and teaching, finds Susan Newman

• Lecturers' strike update: inside the occupation at Exeter University

  

  Now on the third day of #ExeterOccupy in support of striking lecturers, Theseus Stefanatos and Alex Rafael Rose report on the action students are taking and why

• Lecturers strike massive blow

  

  The UCU strike is not just about pensions. It is an opportunity to fight for a new vision for Higher Education, argues Milly Williamson

• Lecturers' strike: interview with a QMU striker

  

  A UCU striker at Queen Mary University speaks to Katherine Connelly about the ongoing dispute

• Lecturers' strike update: students occupy in Bristol, Exeter and Leicester

  

  In solidarity with striking lecturers and opposing further marketisation of higher education, students begin occupying management offices reports Jack Hazeldine

• Lecturers' strike: Deepen the action, spread the support

  

  As the strike continues, we must up the ante, argues Des Freedman

• Time for Action - UCU Strike

  

  John McDonnell has released a video saying UCU strikers have "absolute solidarity" from Labour. Jack Hazeldine lays out the next steps

• Against the marketisation of our education

  

  Rather than calling for compensation for lost teaching time, students should stand in full solidarity with university and college staff

• Lecturers' strike report: students show their support

  

  On the 5th day of the UCU strike, picket lines stayed strong despite the weather and students came out in force to show their support

• Europe: why retreat must not turn into defeat for the left - weekly briefing

  

  Lindsey German analyses Jeremy Corbyn's speech on Brexit, as well as the importance of the UCU strike and the growing movement against the NRA in the US

• What you can do to support the lecturers' strike

  

  As the strike continues we must keep the pressure on, argues Chris Nineham

• Lecturers' strike updates: Striking to win

  

  As the UCU strike carries on into its 4th day, we put together some short reports from picket lines around the country

• Bristol leads the way in supporting striking university staff - photos

  

  After a huge mobilisation to support striking lecturers on the first day of the strike, Bristolians took to the streets again to show solidarity reports Jack Hazeldine

• Forget the Arctic conditions: our universities are on fire

  

  The UCU strike has the potential to rebuild the campaign against the marketisation of our higher education, writes Des Freedman

• Lecturers' strike day two: ‘The things we have, we fought for on cold days like these’

  

  Another day on the picket line as, across the country, striking lecturers put the pressure on

• Biggest ever strike in higher education? UCU members prepare to defend pensions

  

  As education workers get ready to strike, Des Freedman, a professor at Goldsmiths University, tells us what we can do to support them

• Can Vince Cable save the Lib Dems?

  

  What does the future hold for the party?

• The Econocracy: The Perils of Leaving Economics to the Experts

  

  The Econocracy calls for reform and democratisation of the field of Economics so that it may suit the present needs of our society, finds Orlando Hill

• If you fight you can win: victory for fractional staff at SOAS

  

  The success of the SOAS campaign will hopefully inspire other precarious workers across the sector

• The great academy rip off

  

  The free market in education is a disaster, and children are paying the price, writes Judy Cox

• E.P. Thompson on how to save the university

  

  Over four decades ago, the Marxist historian called for resistance against the commercialisation of higher education

• SOAS and the fight against precarity

  

  Reporting the extent of precarity across the university sector in Britain is welcome but precarious work needs to end now, argues Carrie Benjamin

• Student demo: a cause for optimism

  

  The noisy demonstration in defence of higher education that took place in London could pave the way for the re-emergence of the student movement

• The Capitalist University

• Durham Teaching Assistants: enough is enough

  

  Teaching Assistants in Durham won't accept a pay cut imposed by the council, writes Lizzy Anderson

• Lecturers' strike: fighting for fairness and the future

  

  Higher education (HE) workers across the country took the first of two consecutive days' strike action in the campaign for fair pay. Graham Kirkwood reports 

• Chilean student movement: back in the streets for free education

  

  As the Tories announce plans to remove the cap on tuition fees, Hector Rios looks at how Chilean education was marketised, and how students are resisting

• Five years on from Millbank, who are the real vandals?

  

  Des Freedman argues that the government’s new green paper signals an even more deregulated, profit-driven HE sector

• Sandy Nicoll reinstated at SOAS: the strength of solidarity

  

  Standing together in solidarity at SOAS has overturned management’s suspension of Sandy Nicoll

• Students and staff shut down SOAS

  

  The shutdown at SOAS today over the suspension of Sandy Nicoll is a sign of the battles ahead. But it could also be the beginning of a movement against cuts in higher education more generally