Fight the uni cuts
Socialist Students Scotland
There’s a widespread and deepening crisis in higher education funding in Scotland. For workers in the HE sector it means job losses and worsening terms and conditions.
As a result, trade unions have been leading the way in organising strike action, including at Dundee (see photo), Strathclyde and Robert Gordon.
For students at unis such as Dundee, Aberdeen, Robert Gordon, Edinburgh, Heriot Watt and the University of the West of Scotland it means cutbacks to student support services and quality of their courses.
The crisis is being driven by a more than a decade of cuts by the Scottish government combined with the partial collapse of the funding model that relies on international students studying in Scotland paying exorbitant fees.
More than 600 jobs are due to be axed at Dundee Uni, with non-filling of vacancies its more like 1000. As one staff member explained: “The freeze on staff recruitment and the non-filling of vacancies will over-burden an already demoralised staff, and the threat of redundancy makes things even worse.
Wave after wave of redundancies are being planned by university bosses. That means that a determined fightback by the trade unions and students is essential.
Campus trade unions should urgently be planning an emergency Scotland wide conference to draw up plans for a shutdown of universities unless the bosses back off.
Action committees of trade unions and students in each institution affected are also essential. A central demand should be the full funding of higher education by the Scottish government.
Socialist Students and Socialist Party Scotland also call for the removal of top university management and for the running of universities by democratically elected committees of staff, students and the local community in the interests of society as a whole, not to make profit for wealthy investors and pay vice chancellors’ bloated salaries.
The crisis in HE is added to by a Scottish FE funding row, with Colleges Scotland and the Scottish government arguing over who should finance the repair of crumbling RAAC concrete at 7 colleges across Scotland.
Colleges Scotland claim that the 24 colleges they represent are now dealing with 17% real terms funding cut since the 2021-22 Scottish Budget, which ultimately fails young people in further education.
How are students anywhere in higher or further education supposed to focus on what they’re learning when their uni might be at risk of closure, or their college’s literal structural integrity is in doubt?
It’s time for a massive fight back to defend our right to quality and free education.
Get involved with us today and help build that fight back.
What we say
- Build a mass campaign of trade unions and students
- No cuts to courses, staff jobs and student services on campus
- Build united strike action against cuts. Trade unions name the day for a national education shutdown
- Open the books to democratic trade union inspection. No trust in university bosses to run education
- Scottish government must fully fund HE
- For free education – abolish all fees, scrap student debt and for a living grant for all
- Sack the bosses – for democratically run universities by committees of staff, students and local communities
