A new network against university cuts

On 31 July and 1 August, activists and supporters from Workers’ Liberty came together in Sheffield with other students from around the UK to discuss the founding of a new UK wide campaign against cuts and fees in Higher Education. We were also joined by some workers from higher education institutes.

The work for this gathering began back in the winter of 2025 when students opposing cuts at the University of Sheffield and the University of Leicester visited each other’s campuses to join demonstrations and share practical solidarity.

Out of that work, the campaigns spread and involved more and more campus groups. There are now well over 20 different campuses represented in the organising, with 18 different campuses represented at the founding conference at the weekend. There were apologies from some campuses with messages of solidarity and commitments to get involved.

Students from left groups and unaffiliated activists joined together in discussion and debate about the crisis facing higher education, and education and workers more broadly, both here at home and internationally.

Activists made clear that students and workers should not pay for the crisis in education. Society is awash with resources which can provide life long free education to all.

The conference started on the Friday evening with a series of workshops, one on the student rent strikes that took place during Covid and won millions back in rebates on rent, and another on the 2010 student movement, with a focus on the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts of that era (NCAFC).

This discussion helped to shape and set the tone for the following day.

On Saturday, discussion began with a code of conduct, setting out some principles of how the campaign should behave, and individuals towards each other, alongside some basic standing orders to give the conference the ability to function without excessive rules and spats about what can and cannot happen. Those had been discussed in advance of the conference and passed without any issue.

The campaign is committed now to an internationalist programme for the abolition of tuition fees for all, against cuts, for the restoration of funding and for maintenance grants at the level of the living wage.

What was shown in action at the conference was the ability of the student left from different revolutionary organisations, and none, to come together, debate out ideas, and go forward into joint action on the points of unity.

The network will be planning campaign days throughout the coming months and producing a student-worker bulletin.

The campaign has elected an interim committee to see that actions from the conference are carried out and to organise demonstrations, actions and the follow-up meetings, as well as a planned refounding conference in the autumn. More will come from the campaign in the coming days as conference decisions and reports are published.