Vice chancellors failing universities
10th February 2010
Unite, Britain's biggest union, has today accused university
vice chancellors of failing to properly deal with job security and
cuts in higher education.
Higher education employers are refusing to sign up to a national
process for dealing with job security as a result of the funding
changes in the sector. Instead each university is making separate
plans rather that taking a collective approach to university
funding.
Already this year job cuts are planned at Kings College London,
and at universities in Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Sussex,
Aberystwyth, Manchester Metropolitan, Warwick, Stirling, and
Strathclyde.
Despite the rise in student numbers and student enrolment
applications, the sector looks likely to shrink staff numbers so
affecting student quality of learning and driving down standards.
Those staff who remain will see increased workloads and stress is
already a significant factor.
Mike Robinson, national officer for higher education said:
"Higher education is a single public service, but institutional
elitism is leading to chaos as universities make cuts without
considering the overall effect to higher education in the UK. Vice
chancellors have spent too long in their ivory towers and now they
are failing to take the necessary collective approach with their
workers in dealing with job security and any planned shrinkage in
the sector.
"Students, and the staff at higher education establishments
across the country, deserve national negotiations between unions
and employers that would treat higher education as a single public
service rather than the separate fiefdoms of the vice
chancellors."
"Universities have had the increase in student numbers and in
some areas on fees, but are failing to work in a constructive way
to find a common solution on job security."
ENDS
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