The Friday email: 15 November 2024

Higher education: have your say in the consultative ballot on final pay offer

The consultative ballot on the higher education (HE) pay and working conditions offer for 2024/25 opened on Tuesday 12 November. Members working in HE should have received an email containing your unique link to vote from Civica Election Services. Please find the link and have your say by voting before the ballot closes on Tuesday 3 December (5.00pm).

Your elected reps on UCU's higher education committee (HEC) voted to reject the pay element of the offer and to accept the terms of reference relating to the pay spine review, workload, contract types, and equality pay gaps:

• click here for more information including reports from HE officers and the negotiators
• click here for a list of HE branches that will be included in the consultation (this list corresponds to institutions that are involved in JNCHES negotiations 2024/25)
• click here for a detailed FAQ addressing practical issues such as timetable, eligibility, and requesting replacements
• publicity materials are available to download here.

New Deal for FE: new funding should go to college staff

UCU welcomed the recent announcement of £300m additional funding for further education (FE) in England but is now calling on colleges to use this money to alleviate the crisis in FE staffing and end the iniquitous gap with schoolteacher pay. The Association of Colleges indicated in last week's FE Week that they plan to spend the money on other priorities. We need a New Deal for FE including national bargaining and for this money to redress the years of pay stagnation. You can:

• sign and share our petition for a New Deal for FE.

Your support is needed

Please support the following branches where UCU members in higher education are continuing to defend jobs and education:

• Brunel University of London: Brunel UCU members are fighting plans to make 135 academics redundant
• Cardiff University: management have cut graduate tutor opportunities for postgraduate researchers (PGRs) within the school of social sciences. Please sign the UCU petition here.
• Open University: OU has begun a collective consultation on proposals to fire and rehire a group of OU associate lecturers if they do not 'agree' to have their working hours and pay reduced. Please support OU associate lecturers by signing this petition.

Black prison educators: supporting members and challenging racism

UCU's Black prison educators' group is a self-organised network made up of Black prison education members from across the country, with an aim to provide support, share ideas and resources and challenge structural racism across prison education.

 They held their third development day in October where members led and delivered workshops on 'Racism: a historical perspective' and 'Decolonising art in prison education teaching' using Zentangle and Huroof techniques and principles The artwork created in the workshop was used to create a Black prison educators banner. 

UCU response to Skills for the future inquiry

UCU recently responded to the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee inquiry into 'Skills for the future: apprenticeships and training'. For further details contact Rhianwen Roberts, UCU's policy officer on further education, prison education and adult and community education.

Online English, maths and ESOL conference

The annual English, maths and ESOL conference, which has been running for over 20 years, is a forum for policymakers, providers, practitioners and researchers to discuss a range of issues in essential skills. It will take place online on Tuesday 19 November (10.00am-12.45pm) and you can find more information here.

UCU LGBT+ solidarity webinar

At the end of Trans Awareness week and marking Trans Day of Remembrance you are invited to attend a webinar focusing on solidarity across all LGBT+ on Wednesday 20 November (10:00-11:30). Please click here to register.

Staff governors' conference

The 2024 staff governors' conference will take place online on Wednesday 4 December (9.00am-12.30pm). This long standing event developed by the Education and Training Foundation in conjunction with UCU, AoC, Holex, Unison and Unite has been referred to as the must attend event for FE staff governors. Click here for registration and more information.

Organising for power: online course, 13 February - 20 March 2025

Register now for the 'organising for power' online course 'The Core Fundamentals' and get the skills and knowledge you need to develop winning campaigns. The course runs weekly with sessions running from 5.00pm - 7.00pm, 13 February to 20 March 2025.

UCU will be hosting support sessions, with an initial pre-course overview to ensure you have all the information you need to take the most from the course.

Gaza Educate Medics Conference 2024, 23 November

PalMed Academy invites you to a special panel discussion and charity dinner at the hybrid GEM conference event, 12.00 noon - 5.00pm on Saturday 23 November and you can register here. This is an initiative to support Gaza's medical students and medical schools. 

Solidarity with Ukraine

A big thank you to members who gave and shared the Crowdfunder for a school in central Ukraine. The school has received torches, lights, a printer, a laptop, a WiFi repeater, several arduino kits and marker boards.

On Tuesday 26 November, 'UCU members for Ukraine' are hosting the second webinar of the academic year on Ukraine's energy system. Register here for the event and hear from speakers Andriy Andrusevych from an environmental policy thinktank based in Ukraine and UK historian Simon Pirani on the challenges with keeping the energy flowing to homes and businesses along with reconstruction efforts in greening the energy system.