Universities

The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) held its winter conference in Liverpool last weekend, which saw a lively debate on whether or not to recommit to the 2018 NSS Boycott. After scrutinising the tactic and its potential effectiveness - particularly in relation to the upcoming UCU marking boycott - the conference voted overwhelmingly to continue the boycott into 2018 as part of building a movement of united students and workers against the marketisation of higher education. The conference also voted to support the workers' struggles that have begun to spring up around the country...

As many as 7,000 students marched through London on Wednesday 15 November to demand “Free Education now — tax the rich”. The protest was organised by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts and supported by Momentum, RMT, Unite, NUS Scotland and student unions across the country. Workers’ Liberty student activists were centrally involved in organising and leading the demonstration, along with other comrades in NCAFC. The demonstration was arguably the most energetic and loud free education march in recent years. The atmosphere was boosted by well timed flares and the presence of the...

After Germany in 2014, South Africa looks like becoming the next country to scrap university tuition fees. And more and more people are determined to add England and Wales to the list. In a video released to support a student demonstration in London for free education on 15 November, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has said: “Everybody should have access to high quality from the cradle to the grave, without being forced into debt and anxiety. No one should be shut out. That’s why I support the demonstration for free education organised by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts [NCAFC]...

This article appears as an opinion piece in Solidarity 454 When we “no platform” and un-invite radical feminists from our universities — in the guise of safer spaces — who are we protecting, and who are we serving? The more time and energy we spend attacking these women, the less we spend fighting the Tories and the straight identified men currently posing a life-threatening threat to trans people on these campuses. We should be focussing our energy on the material conditions and accompanying attitudes that pose a threat to the lives of trans people, and on convincing other people to recognise...

On Wednesday the 11, October Jeremy Hunt told the House of Commons that the 1% pay cap will be lifted for NHS staff. After the government buckled under pressure and lifted the public sector pay cap for police and prison officers, the government had shown it was weak and it was only a matter of time before it was forced into lifting the cap for other workers. Hunt has failed to say if the pay rise will be funded, or whether NHS employers will have to find the money within existing, too tight, budgets. So will NHS employers be left with the ″choice″ of making cuts elsewhere in order to fund pay...

The Tory government has backed off from its talk of reducing university tuition fees to £7,500, or of trying to enforce a range of fees differing markedly between universities. The only retreats it will make are to increase the income threshold above which ex-students start repaying from £21,000 a year from £25,000 from April 2018, and to leave the maximum fee from September 2018 at £9,250, rather than raising it to £9,500 as previously planned. The Government had previously planned for the threshold to be frozen indefinitely, so as to make it easier to sell off the student loan book to...

On 13 September Labour passed a motion in Parliament protesting at this year’s rise in tuition fees from £9,000 to £9,250 per year. While the motion was not legally binding, it has been reported in the mainstream press as a dent to the democratic legitimacy of the government’s policy to raise fees in line with inflation. On 17 September there was seemingly even more substantial news — the government may consider lowering fees to £7,500 from 2018-9! Isn’t the government starting to buckle under the pressure of the young people and students who voted and campaigned in large numbers in support of...

Higher Education has been devastated by recent reforms. Further Education has been hit even harder. We’re facing staff cuts, course cuts, rent hikes in halls, a student mental health crisis, institutions catering to the interests of big business at the expense of staff and students. All of these have their roots in or have been exacerbated by rising fees, debt and marketisation. They all have their solution in a free, accessible and democratic education system. That’s why we’re marching on 15 November. We could be on the verge of winning free education. On campuses across the country we’ve...

A consistent trend across universities is the skyrocketing of rent in university halls. There is no reason why rent should be so high and increasing at the rate it is. So why is my rent so high? Since 2010 direct funding to universities has been completely cut and now universities are entirely reliant on your £9,000+ fees for funding. Whereas before university funding was always guaranteed, now it is insecure — universities now need to spend copious amounts of money on PR, visit days and brochures, to attract your loans. However, it also means that universities look for other ways to make...

Across the country, university bosses are announcing cuts to jobs, courses and departments. Teesside has forced all of its professors to reapply for their own jobs and banned their trade union from a meeting to discuss it. Durham wants to recruit 4000 more students while cutting staff. The Open University plans to slash a quarter of its budget, meaning swathes of jobs, to pay for a “digital transformation” plan. Many of these universities are in good financial shape, and the government has not recently cut overall funding. So why are the cuts happening? First, gaming the new Teaching...