Staff protest at Manchester Metropolitan University over plans for 'education on the cheap'

Protestors will lobby members of the board as they arrive for a meeting at 12.30 pm at All Saints Park on the main university campus, off Oxford Road.
 
The union has accused management of trying to 'short-change' students after it announced plans to reduce the number of course units students are required to take each year. Under the proposals students will now only have to take four course units, compared to six in the past and UCU today warned that standards and jobs were being put at risk.
 
The news comes at the same as the university is making support staff redundant and the union said it was concerned that the new course changes would also be used as a way of getting rid of teaching staff.
 
Lecturers have been backed in the fight by the students' union who critcised management for trying to limit the range of specialist teaching on offer and for failing to consult meaningfully with staff and students about the changes.
 
MMU student union officer, Alex Fountain, said: 'It is unacceptable that university management is taking this approach towards education at MMU. The planned changes will reduce the amount of units for all students and cut contact hours with teachers, as well as having serious implications for the way in which our degrees will be regarded. Changes of these kind need to be made on a case-by- case basis and by fully consulting students and staff on the impact they are likely to have.'
 
UCU regional official for the north-west, Martyn Moss, said: 'Students come to MMU for the rich diversity of teaching on offer, not to have their options reduced and to be short-changed. These plans will stop many academics from  teaching in their own specialist areas and could put many jobs at risk.

'We believe this an attempt at trying to deliver education on the cheap and is a strategy for reducing the number of academic staff at MMU, as has been the case with support staff. These changes represent a dumbing-down that will damage the student experience and are being pushed through without full and meaningful consultation with staff and students.'