Second online Convention Meeting, 23 May

Responding to the crisis II: organising to defend Higher Education in the pandemic era (continued)

Saturday 23 May, 10am – 12 noon

Over 200 colleagues met to regroup and discuss the next steps in the campaign to defend Higher Education.

1. We heard a series of two minute reportbacks of initiatives taken by specific groups, individuals and union branches and discussed a range of strategies that can be used to resist employer attacks.
2. We agreed a collective statement, A New Future for Higher Education, to which colleagues can add their signature.
3. We have begun work on a more detailed document in the next few weeks that can be circulated to MPs and beyond containing our vision for HE, detailed financial analysis and concrete proposals for safeguarding HE’s role in the coming period.
4. We agreed to call for protests on 1 June in defence of staff facing the loss of their jobs, and in solidarity with actions to Keep Education Safe by members of the National Education Union.

The notes of the meeting are published online in a GoogleDoc where colleagues can continue to contribute towards sections of the ‘vision document’.

Online Convention Meeting Sat 9 May

Responding to the crisis: organising to defend Higher Education in the pandemic era

Saturday 9 May, 10am – 12 noon

Speakers: John Holmwood and Lee Jones (Campaign for the Public University), Anne Sheppard (Council for Defence of British Universities), Nicola Pratt (British Society for Middle East Studies), and Deepa Driver, Des Freedman and Carlo Morelli (UCU).

Access: This meeting was held on Zoom.

• Crowd sourced informal notes of this meeting and reactions of colleagues (GoogleDoc)

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Emergency Lobby of Parliament over HE Bill – 12 noon 26.4.17 – Parliament Sq

URGENT – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AND CIRCULATION

Lobby of Parliament

Government ‘concessions’ not nearly enough, say academics and UCU

London Region UCU has called a lobby of Parliament today (26 April) at 12 noon. The lobby is supported by UCU and the Campaign for the Public University.

What is at stake

The Government has made some concessions to attempt to get the Higher Education and Research Bill onto the statute books before the General Election. The Bill faced nearly 250 amendments proposed by the House of Lords. They need votes in both Houses of Parliament to get approval.

The House of Commons will take a decision on the future of the Bill later today. London Region UCU has called a protest and lobby in Parliament Square from 12 noon. Union members are being urged to write to MPs.

Analysis by UCU, the Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU) and the HE Convention is that these “concessions” do not go far enough.

Yesterday UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt wrote to all members. She writes that

Amendments which are NOW AT RISK include:

1. blocking plans for a crude rating of teaching quality
2. removing the link between teaching excellence and tuition fees
3. ensuring any organisation awarding degrees meet improved quality standards
4. removing international students from net migration targets
5. protecting overseas staff

Prof David Midgley, a leading member of the CDBU, notes that the Government has provided little detail in its response to many of the Lords Amendments, and some amendments are not addressed at all.

His analysis, published today by the HE Convention, observes that the Government has potentially made minor concessions on points 1 and 3 above, but has refused to remove the link between the TEF and fees, and has made no improvements to protect international students and staff.

Republished from UCU London Region.

Third Reading of HE Bill – Monday 21 November

The Third Reading of the HE Bill in the House of Commons will be this Monday 21 November.

Lobby of Parliament

Monday 21 November
Assemble: Parliament Square, 1pm

Called by the Convention for Higher Education and London Region UCU. Supported by the UCU, CDBU and CPU (more tba).

After the Third Reading, the Bill will go to the House of Lords, which may propose amendments, and then return to the House of Commons for the Final Reading.

The debate is scheduled between 14:30 and 16:30.

WATCH THIS SPACE >> More information will appear on our website http://heconvention.wordpress.com as we have it.

Facebook event A6 leaflet x 4 (PDF)

The Higher Education and Research Bill Comes to Lancaster! – Julie Hearn

At Lancaster University we held a series of three successful events over the course of a week (19-26 October 2016) to raise awareness of the Higher Education and Research Bill and the united opposition to it, culminating in the national demonstration #Nov19. We had a rally, a ‘teach-in’ and a ‘teach-out’ with UCU members, staff, the students’ union, students, the local NUT association and local MP taking part.

Campus lunchtime ‘Teach-In’

Our ‘teach-in’ was a lunch-hour panel discussion with Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood MP) Liz Lawrence (UCU past president) and Rhiannon Llystyn Jones (Lancaster University Students Union). Each speaker gave a ten minute presentation and then we had over a dozen insightful questions from the audience. The meeting was reported in the campus alternative newsletter, Subtext, which drops into the email boxes of hundreds of staff. It noted that it was ‘still very rare’ to have an all-female panel and that the general consensus was that the Bill was a ‘solution looking for a problem.’

Community evening ‘Teach-Out’

This was jointly hosted by Lancaster UCU and Lancaster, Morecambe and District NUT. Our speakers this time were Mark Campbell (victimised and sacked UCU chair at London Metropolitan University), Siobhan Collingwood (local NUT head-teacher) and Jenni Dybell (Lancaster University student). Our aim was to show how the HE Bill was part of a wider government push to commodify education from nursery to university, affecting everyone. The meeting heard powerful examples of how destructive this is on our young people, particularly from working class backgrounds, in terms of exclusion, mental health and poverty. It was good to have the opportunity to share our common concerns, making us all the more determined to fight the continuing marketization of learning.

After the Third Convention – what next?

The Convention for Higher Education met at University College London on 15 October.

This Third Convention was a working meeting discussing the Government’s Higher Education and Research Bill and organising against it.

Headlines

Delegates agreed that the Convention will call a Lobby of the Third Reading of the Bill in the House of Commons. Convention representatives are already working with the NUS, UCU, CDBU and Gordon Marsden’s office in the Committee Stages.

The Third Reading could be soon – in a matter of two or three weeks.

The Bill will then go to the House of Lords, which will require further lobbying. Baroness Alison Wolf said that we should not be anxious about lobbying the Lords – they relied on people lobbying them to get information.

Important Note: Even when the Bill has passed to the Lords, this does not mean we should not lobby MPs. MPs will get another vote on the Bill when it comes back to the House of Commons at the end of the process.

On 19 November, NUS and UCU have called a National Demonstration for Education. The Third Convention welcomed speakers from the NUS to talk about their campaign and to support the building of it. This unity needed to be carried through on the campuses against the Bill.

The Convention also agreed a strong statement condemning the Home Secretary for suggesting that it was a good idea to limit international student recruitment to UK universities, and even worse – to use the TEF to do so.

What can we all do to try to stop the Bill?

Organise meetings on our campuses and in our communities. Our first task is to bring people together who want to do something. We can all circulate the link to the ‘College, Inc.’ video to colleagues, include a link to the HE Convention website, and ask them if they’d like to help organise a meeting about the HE Bill.

• If you are a student, contact your student union. The NUS is campaigning against the Bill. What do student officers think? Will they email students to advertise the meeting?
• If you are a staff member, approach the UCU, EIS and other campus unions. They all have policy against the HE Bill and will email members to advertise the meeting if you ask nicely!

Third Convention Report

Introduction

Prof John Holmwood opened the Convention on behalf of the Steering Committee, explaining what had happened since the Second Convention, the Alternative White Paper and the campaign over the summer.

This Convention included representatives of the NUS and colleagues from FE, and the discussion and debate reflected this.

1. Why you should oppose the HE Bill

In the first session, Baroness Alison Wolf, Prof Martin McQuillan (Deputy VC, Kingston) and Malia Bouattia (NUS President) all spoke on the Bill, what was wrong with it, and which arguments were likely to be successful with MPs.

Alison spoke about MPs’ perceptions of universities: high fees meant universities were booming at the expense of the taxpayer, teaching was not always high quality, so needed evaluating by market mechanisms such as the TEF, and that VCs and academics were perceived to be motivated by self-interest. These arguments needed to be countered. There was little recognition in Government that the HE Bill would undermine academic freedom – or what that might mean in practice. She reminded colleagues of the terrible situation in Turkey where Deans were being sacked and academics arrested.

Martin talked about the VCs’ timidity in challenging Government. They were perceived by MPs as operating entirely self-interestedly in arguing for a rise in tuition fees, and they had lost a lot of credibility. With respect to the Referendum debate they had found themselves on the ‘wrong’ side in Government. The student loan system was bad for students, for taxpayers and for universities. He said that there was a fundamental problem of intergenerational injustice, as MPs who had free education were pushing the next generation into a lifetime of debt.

Speaking for the National Union of Students, Malia spoke about the need to build an alliance with students and parents. The NUS has been organising against the Green Paper and the Bill, and the national officers have been speaking up and down the country to Student Unions to try to get them to take it up. The NUS is also consulting with SUs about a boycott of the National Student Survey (which the Government wants to use as a TEF factor). Students are expected to be complicit in awarding universities high marks for satisfaction, and thereby allowing them to raise tuition fees!

Higher Education and Research Bill – Second Reading 19 July

The Government is rushing the HE Bill through to its Second Reading in the House of Commons.

The Second Reading has been called, at very short notice, for Tuesday 19 July.

The NUS, UCU London Region and other organisations are coordinating an emergency protest in Parliament Square, expected to start at noon.

Emergency Protest against the HE Bill
Tuesday 19 July, Westminster
Assemble 12 Noon, Parliament Square (Westminster Tube)
Called by London Region UCU, NUS, FACE, NCAFC and others

We will publish more information on this page as it becomes available.

The decision to rush this Bill through its Parliamentary stages is despite the current political turmoil created by Brexit, and the economic uncertainty facing the HE sector as a whole. Our analysis is that the HE Bill will compound, rather than solve, the Brexit problems facing universities.

Urgent action: Write to your MP

• Write to your MP to oppose the Bill
• Some example letters
• Tweet to #DearJustine Justine Greening

Notes for lobbying your MP

AWP launch at Cambridge University

Defending the Public University:

A discussion of the Alternative White Paper for Higher Education

Monday 20 June, 17.00-19.00
Room 2, Mill Lane Lecture Theatres

map | Facebook event | Poster (PDF)

Parliamentary Launch Meeting

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Public launch meeting:#AltHEWhitePaper

In Defence of Public Higher Education: Knowledge for a Successful Society

The Alternative White Paper for Higher Education

Monday 13 June, 4.30-6pm

Moved to: Committee Room 16, House of Commons, Parliament Square SW1.

» Directions (Nearest tube: Westminster)

Speakers included: 

• Professor John Holmwood (University of Nottingham; CPU)
• Professor Lucie Clapp (University College London, CDBU)
• Dr. Joanna de Groot (York, Vice President UCU)
• Dr. Rachel Cohen (City University London, CPU)
• Tom Hickey (University of Brighton, CDBU)
• Gordon Marsden MP (Shadow HE Minister, Labour Party)
• Carol Monaghan MP (Scottish Nationalist Party)
• John Pugh MP (Liberal Democrat Party)

Hosted by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP.

• Launch invitation letter to MPs
• Independent
• Times Higher Education
• Study International