UK students

The new student Campaign against Fees, Cuts, and Debt is making plans for the coming term. A conference on 31 July and 1 August brought together activists from around the country. That campaign is planning for days of action over the coming months. We need to be organised and ready for them. Labour Party conference is coming up on 27-30 September, and gives us an opportunity to demonstrate that we are up for the fight. There has been a welcome change in tone from the government since Andy Burnham took over as leader, with Lucy Powell as Education Secretary saying that fees and funding are a...

Over 31 July and 1 August, students and some higher education workers got together in Sheffield to discuss the formation of a new anti-cuts campaign. The nascent campaign does not yet have a name and as we go to press activists are working that out. In building for the conference and spreading the work of the loose network of the anti-cuts groups have started to do the necessary work of rebuilding a student left. We have seen activists from Workers’ Liberty, Workers Power, Socialist Students, and the Communist Workers’ Organisation, along with students not in organisations, debate our...

Students are coming together for a UK-wide meeting in Sheffield on 31 July - 1 August to discuss national campaigning against cuts. Since the beginning of July at least six more universities have announced new or further programmes of cuts. Since 2023 over 30,000 jobs have been lost in Higher Education in the UK, with over 15,000 of those happening in the last year alone, and at least six more unis announcing new or further cuts since the start of July 2026. The University of Dundee, which has cut over 600 jobs, is seeking to cut another 190. In Scotland the “precept” that is paid to unis for...

As the second term of the university year ends, the Sheffield Hallam Anti Cuts (SHAC) group have stepped up their activity. The students have organised a demonstration pointing out the number of staff that have been made redundant by the university in cuts in the past few years, and also drawing attention to the current threats to jobs, conditions and courses. SHAC plan a demonstration for 26 April in Hallam Square. 11am to 1pm. Check out their Instagram page for more info. The UCU branch at Sheffield Hallam has put together a report based on anonymised quotes from members about the impact of...

On 12 March students gathered at the University of Sheffield (UoS) for a demonstration against the cuts there. They were joined by students from the SWAG anti-cuts group at Leicester University and the Sheffield Hallam University Anti-Cuts group. The Sheffield Hallam group has a demonstration on 21 March, 11am-1pm at the Owen Building Entrance. The UoS Students have their next meeting 18 March at 5pm. At Sheffield Hallam workers are being faced with wholesale changes to their terms and conditions. Uni bosses want to transfer staff to employment by a third-party company, removing pension...

To say that tuition fees are back in the news is an understatement. From leftist media outlets to the Daily Mail, tuition fees are front and centre. Most of this stems from the government plans to freeze repayment thresholds. “Plan 2”, in particular, has had its terms and conditions changed previously too, and now most of those on it have higher balances than when they finished study. I have one year as a foundation year student, three years at undergraduate with full maintenance loan, and I am one year into a two-year part time Master’s. At present I owe £97k, with an interest rate of 6.2%...

Leicester University students held a demonstration on 25 February, a “mafia style” mock funeral for the university with its course closures and job losses. Mock gravestones carried the names of departments and courses that have been closed or face closure. Speakers said that they felt that strikes are constant. True, outside of a gap when the national strikes were walked down for no gains by the UCU union General Secretary, there have been on-and-off strikes at universities around the country for years. The question is how to expand those into effectiveness. Students spoke against calls on...

Damning evidence is now coming to light that Northumbria University’s management is in league with five other universities in trying to move staff out of the TPS pension scheme into worse provision. These plans are damaging to staff, and to to the universities themselves and students. Poorer pension schemes or frozen pay will attract fewer staff. Existing staff may think that it is wiser to seek an alternative career where they are more valued. This could have serious implications for the quality of the education at these universities. Motion Workers’ Liberty comrades put forward a motion to...

People and Planet, a leftish NGO which has societies on campuses around the UK, runs “Fossil Free Campus” campaigns. They chalked up some further divestments at the end of 2025. As of December 2025, eighteen higher education institutions are signed up to the campaign, almost doubling the numbers. The campaigns aim for universities to adopt “ethical investment policies” and to “fully divest from fossil fuels within three years”. P&P also campaigns to exclude fossil-fuel companies from universities’ career help for students. In Solidarity 729 we commented: “Much as we can’t shop our way out of...

Leicester university branch of the University and College Union (UCU) has just voted to renew its strike mandate for another six months. A general meeting of the UCU branch will debate and plan further strikes. Strikes against redundancies have been running since the beginning of the year, and the focus on the ground has recently been on getting over the line in the reballot. Across the country there are new and continuing disputes at universities. UCU members at Southampton Solent University are, like those at Northumbria, fighting to keep their pensions in the TPS. Solent bosses have already...