University

Resist the attack on higher education pensions

Counterfire UCU members argue that we must have one clear demand for strike action - a rejection of the 2020 pension valuation
Covid and the campuses: can UCU turn anger into action?

Fighting back against attacks by employers in higher education requires coordinated action across the sector
Why University of Liverpool staff are striking and how you can help

Anthony O'Hanlon, one of the strikers at the University of Liverpool, spoke at a recent Counterfire event about the dispute and how you can show solidarity
Resisting ‘rank and yank’: UCU fights job cuts at Liverpool University

Ahead of a rally on Monday, UCU’s battle to save jobs at Liverpool University is a critical fight for the whole sector
No redundancies: Liverpool University staff take on management with industrial action

The struggle against redundancies at Liverpool university will have implications across the sector
Jobs saved, threats lifted: industrial action beats the bosses at Goldsmiths

Goldsmiths UCU members who are victorious after almost four months of industrial action show that when you fight you can win
Occupy the University: Manchester students take on the management

Students at the University of Manchester have occupied a building demanding a rent rebate, an end to policing of accommodation and staff redundancies, reports Lucy Nichols
Trapped in for profit: Sheffield students rent strike

Students in Sheffield are taking direct action against appalling living conditions, reports Mike McCarthy
Berkeley: The Student Revolt - book review

Hal Draper’s classic account of the 1960s Berkeley student free-speech movement reveals enduring patterns that remain important for all activists, argues Joshua Newman
"The university acted negligently, greedily and dishonestly" - Interview with Edinburgh Uni occupiers

Counterfire's Lucy Nichols speaks to student rent strikers who have occupied a building at the University of Edinburgh about their action and demands
Fighting job cuts in higher education

There is a national push in universities to restructure, cut jobs and weaken unions, but higher education workers are fighting back, reports Vladimir Unkovski-Korica
Striking for Goldsmiths: can assessment boycotts deliver the goods for HE workers?

The government and universities are using Covid as cover to attack workers and students, but the sector is fighting back, writes Milly Williamson involved in the dispute at Goldsmiths University
The University and Social Justice: Struggles Across the Globe - book review

Student movements all over the world, covered in The University and Social Justice, show the potential student protest has to challenge the current order, finds Graham Kirkwood
Goldsmiths UCU: leading the charge with words and action - Branch Solidarity Network bulletin February 2021

Branch Solidarity Network's February 2021 bulletin on the fightback at Goldsmiths University and the demands around workloads
The Tories don’t care about students: Erasmus is just another example

Students will need to continue the fight for education as a right, argues Lucy Nichols
Students must stand firm: Palestine solidarity is a duty not a crime – CounterBlast

The weaponisation of antisemitism could soon hit the campuses, warns Lucy Nichols
#NoMoreNancy: Manchester students march against University management

Students in Manchester marched in their hundreds to send a clear message to the university management: they're not backing down
Growing university staff revolt as Northumbria UCU votes to strike

Members of UCU at Northumbria University have voted to strike over health and safety amid a growing number of branches escalating disputes and balloting
Message from Manchester: if you fight you can win

Lucy Nichols, one of the occupiers at the University of Manchester, calls on students around the country to follow suit
Manchester rent strike and occupation to continue after University's derisory offer

The University of Manchester's offer for a 5% rent reduction is an insult and students will continue their occupation and renew the rent strike for the January term, writes Lucy Nichols
Racists off campus: Manchester students protest against university security racism

After a black student was racially profiled by university security, students have taken to the streets of Fallowfield to demand justice
#OccupyUoM: students have had enough

Lucy Nichols tells us why she's part of the occupation at the University of Manchester, what are the demands and how the university has responded
Manchester action is only the beginning: a Glasgow University perspective

As Glasgow students take action against mistreatment by university management, resistance must continue to spread, argues Sophie Johnson
#OccupyUoM: Students take over University of Manchester building

Students at the University of Manchester are fighting back against the way they've been treated and have occupied a building until their demands are met
Students in revolt: The 2010 protests and beyond - video

Ten years on from the student protests that rocked the nation, Clare Solomon and Elly Badcock discuss the 2010 student movement and the impact it had
Manchester students tear down fences in thousands-strong protest

Students are raging at being repeatedly let down by the government and universities. Fences were the last straw for Manchester students - so they brought them down
Universities must lock down too

We must move teaching online, test students and allow them home argues Dragan Plavšić
Universities are a big part of driving infection rates

Staff and students at universities are taking on managements and the government amid sharply rising cases across campuses
Solidarity to the Rent Strikers – Bristol students fight back

Students in Bristol have called a rent strike over conditions of learning and living which the university promised and failed to deliver on, reports Jago Corry
Manchester students call for rent strike as thousands are infected with virus

Students and lecturers unite to confront government failure to keep universities safe, reports Lucy Nichols
Double trouble: COVID chaos and the neoliberal university

The financial priorities of the neoliberal university have fuelled the COVID crisis and the antidote is solidarity between lecturers and students, argues Dragan Plavšić
Students and lecturers must unite and fight for people over profit

With the mounting crisis in universities over rising Covid cases, students and lecturers must agitate together for safe learning, argues Lucy Nichols
Put students ahead of profit: the lesson of the Covid-19 outbreak at Scottish universities

Blaming students is a cynical move to distract from the deeper causes of the recent outbreaks, argues Vladimir Unkovski-Korica
Stop this madness: university campuses are not safe

Universities are risking student and staff lives by continuing the push to return students to unsafe campuses and maintain some face-to-face teaching
10 points against the unsafe return to campuses

Dragan Plavšić considers the growing opposition to universities re-opening as infection rates rise
Campuses and Coronavirus: students head to universities despite rising R rate - CounterBlast

As we head into a second wave, students and academic staff must put pressure on the government and university management to keep people safe, argues Lucy Nichols
The market crashes: from exam crisis to political crisis

University staff are pushing back against the callous actions of universities and the government putting staff and students at risk
The market crashes: Branch Solidarity Network Bulletin September 2020

Branch Solidarity Network's September bulletin on the return to universities and why face-to-face teaching isn't safe
Goldsmiths marking boycott: casualised staff fight back

We repost Branch Solidarity Network's interview with two Goldsmiths staff members involved in the dispute and the BSN June 2020 bulletin
For a national fight to defend higher education

UCU members report on the fightback at universities under attack by management and have put forward a model motion to show solidarity
UCU members: reject the employers' derisory 'Four Fights' offer

We should not even be balloting on this, but focusing on the issues arising from the universities’ response to the Covid-19 crisis, argues Vladimir Unkovski-Korica
Confronting the crisis in universities

There is an urgent need for UCU to develop a national strategy over Covid-19, write Counterfire UCU members
A Manifesto of resistance: to protect higher education during COVID times

Universities are at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, this manifesto protects them post lockdown
Coronavirus, competition and the universities

The coronavirus has exposed serious flaws in the university system, writes Dragan Plavšić
Striking in the time of coronavirus: results and prospects of the universities dispute

After 22 days of industrial action this year, the University and College Union (UCU) will now contend with the coronavirus outbreak as well, argues Vladimir Unkovski-Korica.
Toby Young is wrong again: the threat to free speech comes from the right

Right wingers like Toby Young are no friends of free speech and the left must fight back, argues Chris Nineham
Stop the cuts at Goldsmiths: the not–so-hidden costs of the higher education ‘market’

Des Freedman reports on students and staff rallying at Goldsmiths against cuts and how it links up with the UCU strike beginning this week
High stakes in UCU strike: another 14 days of action announced

Higher turnout likely than last year but the strike needs solidarity from the whole labour movement, argues Vladimir Unkovski-Korica
Students and staff at SOAS stand up to management attacks

The fightback at SOAS has begun with a student and staff walkout and protest against management's attack on fractionals, reports Shabbir Lakha
SOAS: a call to action to defend education as a public good

After SOAS management's drastic move, never has solidarity been so necessary and unity so possible to defend education, writes Des Freedman
SOAS goes on the attack with major cuts to casual academic staff

Claiming financial distress, SOAS has effectively sacked its precarious academics for the coming year in one fell swoop, reports Elaine Graham-Leigh
The lecturers are fighting back: reports from UCU strike day 1

As lecturers at 60 universities around the country began eight days of strike action, Counterfire activists reported from picket lines on day one of the strike
Confronting fear during a strike: why picket lines are important in industrial disputes

Ahead of the UCU strike, Vladimir Unkovski-Korica argues that mass unity creates strong bonds among strikers
University lecturers are gearing up for next week's strike

Preparations for the eight-day UCU strike starting 25 November are underway, reports Graham Kirkwood
Oxford Union violently ejects blind, black student from debate

The Oxford Union demonstrates that it remains at heart a racist, conservative institution, argues Josh Newman
Fight for the soul of Hong Kong

As the battleground shifts to universities, pro-democracy demonstrators continue to be met with violence in Hong Kong, reports Alex Doe
Universities take global steps to fight climate disaster

Universities around the world are organising together to declare an emergency and combat climate change, reports Pete Morgan
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
No platform for Alice Weidel in Oxford

The cancellation of Alice Weidel's visit to the Oxford Union is a victory and should help to push for a mass, anti-racist movement, argues Josh Newman
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
University of Bristol students march for mental health services

Students at the University of Bristol demonstrated in huge numbers this Friday to protest inadequate mental health provision, reports Steven Cooper
University workers' statement on UCU ballot result

The strike is over: our fight is not
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
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 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 Sherwood
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
Lecturers' strike day one: A bad day for the casino

University strikers across the country are reporting the most successful and well supported industrial action for years
'They think we are weak - they could not be more wrong': Goldsmiths kicks off against pension cuts

On the first day of this historic strike, Goldsmiths lecturers show they mean business and are fighting to win
Solidarity with striking lecturers - resolution

Resolution to submit at your Union branches/CLPs/elsewhere in solidarity with UCU members going on strike from Thursday
Why we strike: why lecturers need your support

As university staff are set to take strike action, two lecturers, Des Freedman and Vladimir Unkovski-Korica explain why you should support the strike
University staff set to strike after ballot victory

University staff are set for 14 days of strike action after voting decisively for walkouts in opposition to attacks on their pensions reports Des Freedman
Hungary: the end of democratic illusions

The government-sponsored attack on the Central European University (CEU) represents one more step in the country’s authoritarian drift
Hungary: huge protests in defence of academic freedom

Prime minister Orban's attack on the Central European University has inspired strong opposition
The Capitalist University: The Transformation of Higher Education in the United States since 1945

Henry Heller’s The Capitalist University shows how higher education has served capitalism for over a hundred years, finds Orlando Hill
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
Unionising university workers - extract

In the third extract from The Capitalist University, Henry Heller writes about growing resistance to the corporate university
Universities and the Cold War - extract

The second extract from Heller's The Capitalist University describes intellectual and political conformity that dominated academia during the Cold War
Universities, corporations and class - extract

We republish the first of three extracts from Henry Heller's new book The Capitalist University, which resonates with the marketisation of HE in Britain
Back to Bash Street? May's grammar school myths

As Theresa May tries to take us back in time, Sean Ledwith and Adam Tomes take a look at the grammar school debate
Solidarity statement by JNU alumni and international academic community

Uditi Sen explains the background to the ongoing protests at JNU over the political persecution of the left by the Modi government
Preventing Prevent: Students are not suspects

Students need to unite against the Prevent strategy, which is only meant to spread division, argues Shelly Asquith
Why we should support the SOAS occupation

In defiance of SOAS management's proposed budget cuts, course closures and job losses, students occupied their university. Alex Bewley reports

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University

University

Counterfire UCU members argue that we must have one clear demand for strike action - a rejection of the 2020 pension valuation

Fighting back against attacks by employers in higher education requires coordinated action across the sector

Anthony O'Hanlon, one of the strikers at the University of Liverpool, spoke at a recent Counterfire event about the dispute and how you can show solidarity

Ahead of a rally on Monday, UCU’s battle to save jobs at Liverpool University is a critical fight for the whole sector

The struggle against redundancies at Liverpool university will have implications across the sector

Goldsmiths UCU members who are victorious after almost four months of industrial action show that when you fight you can win

Students at the University of Manchester have occupied a building demanding a rent rebate, an end to policing of accommodation and staff redundancies, reports Lucy Nichols

Students in Sheffield are taking direct action against appalling living conditions, reports Mike McCarthy

Hal Draper’s classic account of the 1960s Berkeley student free-speech movement reveals enduring patterns that remain important for all activists, argues Joshua Newman

Counterfire's Lucy Nichols speaks to student rent strikers who have occupied a building at the University of Edinburgh about their action and demands

There is a national push in universities to restructure, cut jobs and weaken unions, but higher education workers are fighting back, reports Vladimir Unkovski-Korica

The government and universities are using Covid as cover to attack workers and students, but the sector is fighting back, writes Milly Williamson involved in the dispute at Goldsmiths University

Student movements all over the world, covered in The University and Social Justice, show the potential student protest has to challenge the current order, finds Graham Kirkwood

Branch Solidarity Network's February 2021 bulletin on the fightback at Goldsmiths University and the demands around workloads

Students will need to continue the fight for education as a right, argues Lucy Nichols

The weaponisation of antisemitism could soon hit the campuses, warns Lucy Nichols

Students in Manchester marched in their hundreds to send a clear message to the university management: they're not backing down

Members of UCU at Northumbria University have voted to strike over health and safety amid a growing number of branches escalating disputes and balloting

Lucy Nichols, one of the occupiers at the University of Manchester, calls on students around the country to follow suit

The University of Manchester's offer for a 5% rent reduction is an insult and students will continue their occupation and renew the rent strike for the January term, writes Lucy Nichols

After a black student was racially profiled by university security, students have taken to the streets of Fallowfield to demand justice

Lucy Nichols tells us why she's part of the occupation at the University of Manchester, what are the demands and how the university has responded

As Glasgow students take action against mistreatment by university management, resistance must continue to spread, argues Sophie Johnson

Students at the University of Manchester are fighting back against the way they've been treated and have occupied a building until their demands are met

Ten years on from the student protests that rocked the nation, Clare Solomon and Elly Badcock discuss the 2010 student movement and the impact it had

Students are raging at being repeatedly let down by the government and universities. Fences were the last straw for Manchester students - so they brought them down

We must move teaching online, test students and allow them home argues Dragan Plavšić

Staff and students at universities are taking on managements and the government amid sharply rising cases across campuses

Students in Bristol have called a rent strike over conditions of learning and living which the university promised and failed to deliver on, reports Jago Corry

Students and lecturers unite to confront government failure to keep universities safe, reports Lucy Nichols

The financial priorities of the neoliberal university have fuelled the COVID crisis and the antidote is solidarity between lecturers and students, argues Dragan Plavšić

With the mounting crisis in universities over rising Covid cases, students and lecturers must agitate together for safe learning, argues Lucy Nichols

Blaming students is a cynical move to distract from the deeper causes of the recent outbreaks, argues Vladimir Unkovski-Korica

Universities are risking student and staff lives by continuing the push to return students to unsafe campuses and maintain some face-to-face teaching

Dragan Plavšić considers the growing opposition to universities re-opening as infection rates rise

As we head into a second wave, students and academic staff must put pressure on the government and university management to keep people safe, argues Lucy Nichols

University staff are pushing back against the callous actions of universities and the government putting staff and students at risk

Branch Solidarity Network's September bulletin on the return to universities and why face-to-face teaching isn't safe

We repost Branch Solidarity Network's interview with two Goldsmiths staff members involved in the dispute and the BSN June 2020 bulletin

UCU members report on the fightback at universities under attack by management and have put forward a model motion to show solidarity

We should not even be balloting on this, but focusing on the issues arising from the universities’ response to the Covid-19 crisis, argues Vladimir Unkovski-Korica

There is an urgent need for UCU to develop a national strategy over Covid-19, write Counterfire UCU members

Universities are at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, this manifesto protects them post lockdown

The coronavirus has exposed serious flaws in the university system, writes Dragan Plavšić

After 22 days of industrial action this year, the University and College Union (UCU) will now contend with the coronavirus outbreak as well, argues Vladimir Unkovski-Korica.

Right wingers like Toby Young are no friends of free speech and the left must fight back, argues Chris Nineham

Des Freedman reports on students and staff rallying at Goldsmiths against cuts and how it links up with the UCU strike beginning this week

Higher turnout likely than last year but the strike needs solidarity from the whole labour movement, argues Vladimir Unkovski-Korica

The fightback at SOAS has begun with a student and staff walkout and protest against management's attack on fractionals, reports Shabbir Lakha

After SOAS management's drastic move, never has solidarity been so necessary and unity so possible to defend education, writes Des Freedman

Claiming financial distress, SOAS has effectively sacked its precarious academics for the coming year in one fell swoop, reports Elaine Graham-Leigh

As lecturers at 60 universities around the country began eight days of strike action, Counterfire activists reported from picket lines on day one of the strike

Ahead of the UCU strike, Vladimir Unkovski-Korica argues that mass unity creates strong bonds among strikers

Preparations for the eight-day UCU strike starting 25 November are underway, reports Graham Kirkwood

The Oxford Union demonstrates that it remains at heart a racist, conservative institution, argues Josh Newman

As the battleground shifts to universities, pro-democracy demonstrators continue to be met with violence in Hong Kong, reports Alex Doe

Universities around the world are organising together to declare an emergency and combat climate change, reports Pete Morgan

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

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

The cancellation of Alice Weidel's visit to the Oxford Union is a victory and should help to push for a mass, anti-racist movement, argues Josh Newman

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

Students at the University of Bristol demonstrated in huge numbers this Friday to protest inadequate mental health provision, reports Steven Cooper

The strike is over: our fight is not

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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