UCU Commons newsletter #26, 9 September 2026

Dear subscriber

Welcome to the UCU Commons newsletter, a curated set of links and information about what's happening in UCU Commons, our union, and our sectors more generally. As always, we welcome any feedback you may have on this or any other matter.

 In today's issue:

What UCU Commons has been doing

Vivek with felllow Commoners Ben Pope, Jo Edge and Matt Barnard at the Euston Tap.

Vivek Thuppil has very sadly had to resign his role as Migrant Rep (Non-EU) on UCU’s NEC, due to taking up employment with another education union. While we are of course delighted that Vivek’s exceptional talents are being deployed for good, we are gutted to lose someone who has worked so hard for members on a local and national level for the last few years. Vivek says, “It has been an incredible privilege representing UCU members on the NEC. I leave an NEC that, under the very capable leadership of Dyfrig Jones (President), Mark Pendleton (Vice President, HE) and Suzi Toole (President Elect, FE), is poised to tackle the many challenges of the post-16 education sector in a serious way that brings our members along. I wish them and everyone remaining on the committee the very best”.

There are currently two casual vacancy positions being contested on UCU’s NEC. Commoner Madeleine Moore (Loughborough University) is running for UK-elected rep (HE). In addition to giving Madeleine your number 1 vote for this seat, we are recommending that you vote for Tilia Lenz (Bournemouth University) as a second preference. We are also recommending a vote for Helen Kelsall (Trafford and Stockport College Group) for Women’s Rep (FE). Voting closes on 17 September and must be done postally by law. If you haven’t yet received the voting papers, please order a replacement by 10 September.

News from UCU

Great news for members at the University of Exeter, where the threat of compulsory redundancies has been taken off the table before their ballot for industrial action has even closed. This comes after the University Executive Board announced to campus unions in mid-June that 500+ jobs would be put at risk with an expected 153 FTE jobs to go before the start of the 2026–27 academic year. Alex Prichard, until very recently co-chair of the branch, says “We informed the council that this plan was ill conceived, poorly costed, badly planned and could not be delivered. They ignored us. The board had always said they wanted to avoid compulsory redundancies, and asked us to advise on the terms of a generous voluntary severance package, which we did, and which they adopted wholesale. We then immediately put the wheels in motion to get a strike mandate, and worked our socks off to explore every other avenue of resistance in the meantime. Our employers scared away about 100FTE through a threat of compulsory redundancy they didn’t need to deploy, and compulsory redundancies were called off 11 weeks after they were announced. The dispute has shown very clearly that we need urgent changes to how management engages with the Unions, a new senior academic leadership team (especially in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences), Council and Senate reform, and a new funding model for HE. The way we’ve fought this dispute – our comms, our togetherness, our diligence and professionalism, and our general positivity, not to mention the widespread support we got from MPs and the general public – puts Exeter’s UCU branch in the driving seat of these reforms over the coming months. Our strike mandate will keep us there”. 

UCU’s annual Equality Groups Conference takes place from 26–28 November 2026 in a hybrid format, with the in-person element taking place in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Each of the five strands – women, Black, LGBTQ+, migrant and disabled – have a half-day conference with a plenary session open to all on the second day. Any member identifying with a given strand can register to attend the session in question at no expense (travel and meals are refunded and accommodation is pre-booked with registration), and we strongly encourage anyone who can attend to do so. Tilly Fitzmaurice, chair of UCU’s Equality committee, says “The annual Equality Groups Conference is a highlight of the UCU calendar and a brilliant opportunity for members engaged in equalities-focused activities to learn from each other and enrich the union’s organising base. The aim of the annual conference is to demonstrate to members that not only does UCU take seriously the representation of marginalised groups of members, but also our commitment to putting equalities at the heart of our organising work as a union. And, if you’re able to come in person, it’s in Newcastle. What’s not to love?”.

UCU’s Anti-casualisation Committee (ACC) is running two webinars on Wednesday 23 September (at 12.30pm and 5pm) on the topic of equalities and casualisation. Chaired by Commoner and committee vice-chair Ben Pope, speakers include members of the committee and UCU President Elect Suzi Toole. ACC co-chair Jo Edge says, “The intersection of casualisation with our equality strands is something that has been at the forefront of discussions at ACC meetings for some time. This important webinar builds on brilliant work already done at UCU on equality and job insecurity, such as the survival guide on neurodivergence and casualisation. I encourage any member who is able to participate in one of these sessions to register and help inform our work in this important area going forward”.

In our sectors

With recent announcements of HE funding reviews in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, WonkHE’s Jim Dickinson and President of NUS Scotland Justine Pedussel have taken a deep dive into Westminster’s chokehold on devolved nations HE funding, finding that accounting rules are responsible for the HE crisis being felt much more acutely in the devolved nations than in England. HEC Vice Chair Sophia Woodman says, “This complex analysis of UK-level public funding for higher education has a shocking finding: efforts in Wales and Scotland to make HE more affordable for students mean the two nations get less funding overall than HE in England. This funding system essentially rewards higher levels of student indebtedness. Yet another reason why the current funding framework needs urgent change!”. In terms of the review in Scotland, UCU Scotland (UCUS) has backed Edinburgh VC Peter Mathieson’s call for HE funding reform, giving UCUS President Chris O’Donnell a chance to respond to the one-sided coverage of the £200m shortfall in Scottish funding and remind the Scottish public that staff make a university and should not bear the brunt of “sustainability”.

UCU has responded to the corporate takeover of Lincoln Bishop University by Global University Systems, a move which sets an alarming precedent for the UK’s university sector. We can only wait and see what unfolds, and hope that Andy Burnham’s recent lamenting of decades of privatisation applies to our precious university sector as much as it does water companies.

The Office for Students (OfS) have apologised for their vexatious and calculated fining of the University of Sussex to the tune of £585,000 over alleged breaches of free speech rules. While welcoming the apology, Sussex VC Sasha Roseneil was puzzled at the lack of reflection it contained about the seriousness of the High Court’s findings when the fine was overturned on appeal. It is unlikely, of course, that the OfS will learn any serious lessons: this sort of selective, politically motivated persecution of institutions and failure to tackle the manifold problems actually faced by both students and the sector is a feature, not a bug, of this Tory-founded regulator.

It’s not surprising that Nick Hillman – architect of Plan 2 student loans and erstwhile Tory candidate for Cambridge – attended the Reform UK conference and wrote a nauseatingly fawning report. What is alarming is that it includes an account of a session on HE involving Malcolm Press – Vice Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University and President of Universities UK – and Suella Braverman. That’s right. A VC of one of our HEIs and leader of ‘the collective voice of 142 universities’ shared a platform with the woman who, among other things, dreamed of deporting migrants to Rwanda. Rob Clarke says, “What a week it’s been for Reform UK! Accusations of illegal donations splattered across the press, images posted to social media appearing to show a woman being violently assaulted by its conference attendees, and a new pact with Jordan Bardella, president of France’s racist National Rally party. I’m not sure these are people that I’d choose to hang out with (let alone agree with, if Hilman’s account is to be believed), but you do you, Malcolm – I’m sure your staff and students are very proud”. 

We hope you have enjoyed this round up. Want to get involved? Join UCU Commons and work with us towards a more effective union for post-16 education here. 

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