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Workplace policies

Many key employment policies, such as those around intellectual property, lesson observation and workload, are determined or implemented locally and national UCU has policy and guidance covering these key areas.

Intellectual property

Inventions, developmental research, writing and recording, among other activities, are at the heart of the work of academic and related staff in higher education.

University statutes

In chartered institutions (pre-92 sector), university governance is set out in statutes. There is an employment statute covering redundancy, disciplinary, dismissal and grievance procedures which determine the procedures applying to staff covered by the statute. The employment statute will cover staff engaged in teaching and research and may also cover staff engaged in research, teaching and scholarship and academic-related staff.

Workload protection

Workload protection is increasingly an issue for staff across all sectors - as resources are reduced, the demands on staff to perform, and to perform well, are increasing.

Lesson observation

Internal college lesson observation policies and procedures continue to be the industrial issue that has been the subject of the most sector conference motions in recent years. This reflects the fact that lesson observation policies are still a hotly contested industrial issue in FE and adult education today.