UCU Commons newsletter #8, 28 January 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 have been doing
From this Friday, members will receive their ballot papers in the post for this year’s UCU elections. Our member Mark Pendleton is running for the important role of Vice-President (Higher Education), which will become President in 2029–30. The person elected to this role chairs the Higher Education Committee and national conferences and leads UK-wide negotiations around both pay and pensions. Please check out Mark’s election site, including more information about his background and experience, and the wide range of UCU members and activists who are supporting his candidacy. Mark says: “At a time when our sectors are in crisis, we need to be a union that brings people together, empowers members to take action and can build effectively to change post-16 education in the UK. I’m ready to step up into this new role and with the support of all of you, help make that a reality”.
Commons members Matt Barnard, Gillian Jack and Alex Prichard are also running for NEC seats. Unusually this year, UCU is electing a second Vice-President (from Further Education) to fill a casual vacancy, and we are supporting Suzi Toole from Bolton College for that role. Please vote in both Vice-Presidential elections and for all other vacancies on your ballot paper. A full list of recommended candidates who align with our values is available on our website. You can help out with the election by contacting members in your workplaces and networks and encouraging them to vote. Downloadable and printable how to vote cards are available for circulation or get in touch if you’ve got any questions for Mark or would like to invite him along to a meeting.
We are delighted to report that our motion to open up the nomination process to UCU’s five equality standing committees was passed at the January meetings of the Women, LGBTQ+, Black and Disabled members’ standing committees. This will now proceed to the Equality Committee meeting scheduled for 13 February. We are very glad to have received such broad support from across our equality strands, which speaks to the importance of making the nomination process easier. Stay tuned for further updates!
News from UCU
We were appalled to hear that members of an Education International (EI) delegation to Palestine, which included UCU’s General Secretary Jo Grady, were detained by Israeli border forces for five hours, interrogated and denied entry. They were due to attend a graduation ceremony and celebrate Palestinian educators for International Day of Education. UCU Commons member Vivek Thuppil said, “The decision by the Israeli occupation forces to deny access to UCU General Secretary Jo Grady and a delegation of other EI delegates to attend a solidarity event to celebrate the graduation of Palestinian teachers is appalling. What is even more reprehensible is the accusation by Israeli occupation forces that the General Secretary of UCU was there to fund teachers in Gaza, as if that would be awful! Whilst the interrogation and deportation caused real unease among the EI delegates, Grady is absolutely right to note that the Palestinian people have been putting up with far worse from the occupying Israeli regime forces for years and things are only getting worse. We call upon the British Government to condemn the ongoing violation of Palestinians' human rights in the occupied West Bank and to call upon the Israeli regime to act in accordance with international law”.
Several annual conferences for specialist employment groups take place in February in hybrid format. The Prison Educators’ conference will be on 20 February, with a registration deadline of 10 February. The Academic Related Professional Services (ARPS) conference will be held on 26 February, with registration to be completed by 17 February. The Anticasualisation conference will be on 28 February, also with a registration deadline of 17 February. We encourage as many UCU members as possible to attend any conferences that are relevant to them.
In our sectors
Earlier this month, our member Tilly Fitzmaurice attended and spoke at the report launch event for States of Precarity, a research project investigating experiences and effects of precarious employment practices in UK HE geography, that was part-funded by the Royal Geography Society. Tilly, who is a former representative of HE casualised members on the UCU NEC, said: “this project, and the commitment the RGS-IBG has shown to it, represent a welcome instance of engagement by a learned society with the structural issues facing HE institutions in the UK. It also provides sorely needed evidence of the serious impacts that precarious employment can have on colleagues’ stability and quality of life, their career development and the future of geography as a discipline”. The report launch has attracted coverage from THE and ScienceBusiness.
Skills Minister Jacqui Smith, representing a government that has no vision or plan for the future of Higher Education, has reassured us that the government will step in if a university goes into liquidation. It is unfathomable that the government – who fund much of our higher education sector using the economic fiction of student loans – won’t commit to stepping in before a crisis of this magnitude unfolds by reforming HE finance and holding employers to account over responsible financial management.
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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