UCU Commons
@ucucommons.bsky.social
UCU Commons is a broad activist community working within and alongside the University and College Union (UCU). We are also on http://UCUCommons.org #UCUCommons
Substack: https://ucucommons.substack.com/
Substack: https://ucucommons.substack.com/
Pinned
UCU Commons newsletter #2
Our fortnightly round-up of union and sector specific news
ucucommons.substack.com
Commons newsletter #2 just dropped, feat. info on Commons, UCU & sector-wide matters. Subscribe to receive updates! #UCU #UKHE
With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
Reposted by UCU Commons
All set up ready for the UCU Women's Conference. Looking forward to welcoming you all.
November 14, 2025 at 9:14 AM
All set up ready for the UCU Women's Conference. Looking forward to welcoming you all.
Reposted by UCU Commons
Dons #UCU HEC member hat. UK academics on teaching-focused/teaching-only contracts: how, if at all, does your employer support you in doing research? Are there any good local policies on this I should be aware of? My DMs are open and confidentiality assured. #UKHE #academicsky
November 10, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Dons #UCU HEC member hat. UK academics on teaching-focused/teaching-only contracts: how, if at all, does your employer support you in doing research? Are there any good local policies on this I should be aware of? My DMs are open and confidentiality assured. #UKHE #academicsky
ICYMI: our report from HEC, Friday 10 October 2025, which went out in yesterday's newsletter. #UKHE #UCU
ucucommons.org/2025/10/31/r...
ucucommons.org/2025/10/31/r...
Report from HEC, Friday 10th October 2025
Key takeaways – Two excellent discussion papers addressing sectoral concerns presented rare opportunities for HEC to engage with what to do about the HE crisis beyond industrial action.…
ucucommons.org
November 6, 2025 at 1:36 PM
ICYMI: our report from HEC, Friday 10 October 2025, which went out in yesterday's newsletter. #UKHE #UCU
ucucommons.org/2025/10/31/r...
ucucommons.org/2025/10/31/r...
The latest issue of our fortnightly newsletter includes a report from the HEC held on 10 October. Also featuring @davehitchcock.bsky.social, @matildaf.bsky.social, @hagenilda.bsky.social and more! #UKHE #UCU
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
UCU Commons newsletter #3, 5 November 2025
Our fortnightly round-up of union and sector specific news
ucucommons.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:06 AM
The latest issue of our fortnightly newsletter includes a report from the HEC held on 10 October. Also featuring @davehitchcock.bsky.social, @matildaf.bsky.social, @hagenilda.bsky.social and more! #UKHE #UCU
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
Reposted by UCU Commons
Keeping to time is an accessibility issue! People need breaks between sessions in conferences for all sorts of accessibility reasons - whether for cognitive load, to take medication, needing bathroom breaks, check blood sugar or anything else! Making an effort to keep to time is inclusive.
Nobody makes enemies by finishing their talk early…
October 29, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Keeping to time is an accessibility issue! People need breaks between sessions in conferences for all sorts of accessibility reasons - whether for cognitive load, to take medication, needing bathroom breaks, check blood sugar or anything else! Making an effort to keep to time is inclusive.
Reposted by UCU Commons
Hey #UKHE, #UCU: our members at Brunel have set up a petition against compulsory redundancies, please sign and share!
Hello all on bsky 👋
As with so many of our @ucu.org.uk sister branches, here @brunelucu.bsky.social we are again this year fighting compulsory redundancies.
Please circulate and sign: Stop compulsory redundancies at Brunel University of London 👇
speakout.web.ucu.org.uk/stop-brunel-...
As with so many of our @ucu.org.uk sister branches, here @brunelucu.bsky.social we are again this year fighting compulsory redundancies.
Please circulate and sign: Stop compulsory redundancies at Brunel University of London 👇
speakout.web.ucu.org.uk/stop-brunel-...
Stop compulsory redundancies at Brunel University of London
Brunel University of London management have expressed their intention to move forward with plans for further compulsory redundancies in 2025-26. This comes after a year of decimation in 2024-25, when ...
speakout.web.ucu.org.uk
October 28, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Hey #UKHE, #UCU: our members at Brunel have set up a petition against compulsory redundancies, please sign and share!
Hello all on bsky 👋
As with so many of our @ucu.org.uk sister branches, here @brunelucu.bsky.social we are again this year fighting compulsory redundancies.
Please circulate and sign: Stop compulsory redundancies at Brunel University of London 👇
speakout.web.ucu.org.uk/stop-brunel-...
As with so many of our @ucu.org.uk sister branches, here @brunelucu.bsky.social we are again this year fighting compulsory redundancies.
Please circulate and sign: Stop compulsory redundancies at Brunel University of London 👇
speakout.web.ucu.org.uk/stop-brunel-...
Stop compulsory redundancies at Brunel University of London
Brunel University of London management have expressed their intention to move forward with plans for further compulsory redundancies in 2025-26. This comes after a year of decimation in 2024-25, when ...
speakout.web.ucu.org.uk
October 28, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by UCU Commons
Thank you so much for your support!
We are in full solidarity with the @pcsunion.bsky.social members at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social who will be on strike for the next two weeks. Let's get out to their pickets and rallies to show our support, @ucu.org.uk members! Details below. @pcspress.bsky.social
The risible wages are well-known in the wider field of the library, museum, gallery and archive world. I’d like to think public opinion is with the people who make the place click day-in-day-out; they deserve better.
Knowledge may be free but labour isn’t: spread the wealth and pay the workers!
Knowledge may be free but labour isn’t: spread the wealth and pay the workers!
October 26, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Thank you so much for your support!
Reposted by UCU Commons
It's worth adding that while the hack of 2+ years ago has been dreadful for British Library users, it is also been awful for BL staff, who cannot fulfil readers' requests and are then confronted by their consequent frustration. With no end in sight.
The risible wages are well-known in the wider field of the library, museum, gallery and archive world. I’d like to think public opinion is with the people who make the place click day-in-day-out; they deserve better.
Knowledge may be free but labour isn’t: spread the wealth and pay the workers!
Knowledge may be free but labour isn’t: spread the wealth and pay the workers!
October 26, 2025 at 8:33 AM
It's worth adding that while the hack of 2+ years ago has been dreadful for British Library users, it is also been awful for BL staff, who cannot fulfil readers' requests and are then confronted by their consequent frustration. With no end in sight.
Reposted by UCU Commons
@pcsunion.bsky.social staff at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social are on strike for the next two weeks. As a @ucu.org.uk member who loves to spend time at the BL whenever I'm in London, I'm in full solidarity with the staff.
The risible wages are well-known in the wider field of the library, museum, gallery and archive world. I’d like to think public opinion is with the people who make the place click day-in-day-out; they deserve better.
Knowledge may be free but labour isn’t: spread the wealth and pay the workers!
Knowledge may be free but labour isn’t: spread the wealth and pay the workers!
October 26, 2025 at 10:00 AM
@pcsunion.bsky.social staff at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social are on strike for the next two weeks. As a @ucu.org.uk member who loves to spend time at the BL whenever I'm in London, I'm in full solidarity with the staff.
Reposted by UCU Commons
Remember guys, @pcsunion.bsky.social staff at the BL are on strike for the next two weeks. Please don't cross the picket line to go to reading rooms, attend exhibitions or anything else. They've endured so much on low pay since the cyberattack in 2023 and the least we can do is have their backs now.
Secret Maps opens today! 🤫 🗺️
From medieval manuscripts to Cold War espionage, our new exhibition explores how maps have hidden as much as they revealed for over 600 years.
Book now: bit.ly/BLSecretMaps
From medieval manuscripts to Cold War espionage, our new exhibition explores how maps have hidden as much as they revealed for over 600 years.
Book now: bit.ly/BLSecretMaps
October 26, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Remember guys, @pcsunion.bsky.social staff at the BL are on strike for the next two weeks. Please don't cross the picket line to go to reading rooms, attend exhibitions or anything else. They've endured so much on low pay since the cyberattack in 2023 and the least we can do is have their backs now.
We are in full solidarity with the @pcsunion.bsky.social members at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social who will be on strike for the next two weeks. Let's get out to their pickets and rallies to show our support, @ucu.org.uk members! Details below. @pcspress.bsky.social
The risible wages are well-known in the wider field of the library, museum, gallery and archive world. I’d like to think public opinion is with the people who make the place click day-in-day-out; they deserve better.
Knowledge may be free but labour isn’t: spread the wealth and pay the workers!
Knowledge may be free but labour isn’t: spread the wealth and pay the workers!
October 26, 2025 at 10:05 AM
We are in full solidarity with the @pcsunion.bsky.social members at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social who will be on strike for the next two weeks. Let's get out to their pickets and rallies to show our support, @ucu.org.uk members! Details below. @pcspress.bsky.social
Reposted by UCU Commons
It shouldn't take an FOI request to see grant success rates. UKRI has a duty of care to researchers to supply this from the outset. We are judged, compared, promoted (or not) according to unbelievably bad odds.
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
October 23, 2025 at 1:46 PM
It shouldn't take an FOI request to see grant success rates. UKRI has a duty of care to researchers to supply this from the outset. We are judged, compared, promoted (or not) according to unbelievably bad odds.
Reposted by UCU Commons
Unprecedented, potentially unlawful retrograde proposals made by @solentuniversity.bsky.social
If you have a vested interest in HE, this concerns you.
We must stand together to resist these outrageous proposals.
#HE #TPS #LGPS #Pension #post-92
www.ucu.org.uk/article/1423...
If you have a vested interest in HE, this concerns you.
We must stand together to resist these outrageous proposals.
#HE #TPS #LGPS #Pension #post-92
www.ucu.org.uk/article/1423...
Solent University threatens P&O-style 'Fire & Rehire' with pension cuts
UCU today announced that it has entered a formal trade dispute with Southampton Solent University over plans to force all its staff onto inferior pension schemes, paving the way for a strike ballot if...
www.ucu.org.uk
October 22, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Unprecedented, potentially unlawful retrograde proposals made by @solentuniversity.bsky.social
If you have a vested interest in HE, this concerns you.
We must stand together to resist these outrageous proposals.
#HE #TPS #LGPS #Pension #post-92
www.ucu.org.uk/article/1423...
If you have a vested interest in HE, this concerns you.
We must stand together to resist these outrageous proposals.
#HE #TPS #LGPS #Pension #post-92
www.ucu.org.uk/article/1423...
Reposted by UCU Commons
I missed posting about this yesterday but the second issue of our newsletter is out! Please subscribe to receive updates every second Wednesday. #UCU #UKHE
Commons newsletter #2 just dropped, feat. info on Commons, UCU & sector-wide matters. Subscribe to receive updates! #UCU #UKHE
With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
UCU Commons newsletter #2
Our fortnightly round-up of union and sector specific news
ucucommons.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Reposted by UCU Commons
Commons newsletter #2 just dropped, feat. info on Commons, UCU & sector-wide matters. Subscribe to receive updates! #UCU #UKHE
With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
UCU Commons newsletter #2
Our fortnightly round-up of union and sector specific news
ucucommons.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Commons newsletter #2 just dropped, feat. info on Commons, UCU & sector-wide matters. Subscribe to receive updates! #UCU #UKHE
With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
Reposted by UCU Commons
We are now on Bluesky! Show us some love and hit the follow button 💜
#UHI #ThinkUHI #UCU #UCUScotland
@ucu.org.uk @ucuscotland.bsky.social
#UHI #ThinkUHI #UCU #UCUScotland
@ucu.org.uk @ucuscotland.bsky.social
October 22, 2025 at 8:40 AM
We are now on Bluesky! Show us some love and hit the follow button 💜
#UHI #ThinkUHI #UCU #UCUScotland
@ucu.org.uk @ucuscotland.bsky.social
#UHI #ThinkUHI #UCU #UCUScotland
@ucu.org.uk @ucuscotland.bsky.social
Reposted by UCU Commons
Delighted for the UCU branch at the University of the West of Scotland, who have called off planned strike action at the 11th hour when management ruled out compulsory redundancies. If you can I suggest donating to EIS’s strike fund as they were out for 8 days before action was pulled. #UCU #UKHE
📣 UWS HAS RULED OUT COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES
After 8 days of strike action from EIS, and a further 12 days planned from Monday which UCU were due to join, management has today announced that CR has been taken off the table 🎉
After 8 days of strike action from EIS, and a further 12 days planned from Monday which UCU were due to join, management has today announced that CR has been taken off the table 🎉
October 22, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Commons newsletter #2 just dropped, feat. info on Commons, UCU & sector-wide matters. Subscribe to receive updates! #UCU #UKHE
With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
UCU Commons newsletter #2
Our fortnightly round-up of union and sector specific news
ucucommons.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Commons newsletter #2 just dropped, feat. info on Commons, UCU & sector-wide matters. Subscribe to receive updates! #UCU #UKHE
With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
With @matildaf.bsky.social, @markpendleton.bsky.social, @choochod.bsky.social, @ucu-uws.bsky.social, @iwgbunion.bsky.social & more!
ucucommons.substack.com/p/ucu-common...
Reposted by UCU Commons
Can student journalism survive and thrive?
Tanshpreet Kaur and I spent part of the summer talking to student journalists and other interested parties. Our report focuses on Redbrick, the flagship paper here at Birmingham. You can read it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1QiJG...
Tanshpreet Kaur and I spent part of the summer talking to student journalists and other interested parties. Our report focuses on Redbrick, the flagship paper here at Birmingham. You can read it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1QiJG...
October 21, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Can student journalism survive and thrive?
Tanshpreet Kaur and I spent part of the summer talking to student journalists and other interested parties. Our report focuses on Redbrick, the flagship paper here at Birmingham. You can read it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1QiJG...
Tanshpreet Kaur and I spent part of the summer talking to student journalists and other interested parties. Our report focuses on Redbrick, the flagship paper here at Birmingham. You can read it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1QiJG...
Reposted by UCU Commons
My dudes in Government, this is the opposite of helpful.
I think at this point that it’s hard to read the Government’s plan as anything other than “shrink the number of HE providers”.
Whether they are also intending to shrink the number of students is perhaps slightly more open.
I think at this point that it’s hard to read the Government’s plan as anything other than “shrink the number of HE providers”.
Whether they are also intending to shrink the number of students is perhaps slightly more open.
'The government will impose student number limits on universities offering poor quality courses as it moves to give the Office for Students (OfS) greater powers.' 1/3
Government to back student limits for ‘low-quality’ universities
Higher education institutions could be penalised if they offer courses deemed subpar as universities await Labour's reform plans
www.timeshighereducation.com
October 20, 2025 at 9:10 AM
My dudes in Government, this is the opposite of helpful.
I think at this point that it’s hard to read the Government’s plan as anything other than “shrink the number of HE providers”.
Whether they are also intending to shrink the number of students is perhaps slightly more open.
I think at this point that it’s hard to read the Government’s plan as anything other than “shrink the number of HE providers”.
Whether they are also intending to shrink the number of students is perhaps slightly more open.
Reposted by UCU Commons
🎙 Coming up next Thursday!
UCU GS Dr Jo Grady will join Iain Dale live on LBC for a special phone-in.
🗓 Thursday 23 October, 8–9pm 📞 Call in. Listen in. Be there.
Let’s make sure the public knows what’s really happening in higher education.
#WeAreTheUniversity
UCU GS Dr Jo Grady will join Iain Dale live on LBC for a special phone-in.
🗓 Thursday 23 October, 8–9pm 📞 Call in. Listen in. Be there.
Let’s make sure the public knows what’s really happening in higher education.
#WeAreTheUniversity
October 17, 2025 at 2:28 PM
🎙 Coming up next Thursday!
UCU GS Dr Jo Grady will join Iain Dale live on LBC for a special phone-in.
🗓 Thursday 23 October, 8–9pm 📞 Call in. Listen in. Be there.
Let’s make sure the public knows what’s really happening in higher education.
#WeAreTheUniversity
UCU GS Dr Jo Grady will join Iain Dale live on LBC for a special phone-in.
🗓 Thursday 23 October, 8–9pm 📞 Call in. Listen in. Be there.
Let’s make sure the public knows what’s really happening in higher education.
#WeAreTheUniversity
Several Commons members attended the Academic Freedom conference, co-hosted by @ucu.org.uk and @eduinternational.bsky.social . Report forthcoming, but for now @matildaf.bsky.social and @drdiongeorgiou.bsky.social on 'Academic Freedom and the Knowledge Commons' (2024)
ucucommons.org/2024/03/22/a...
ucucommons.org/2024/03/22/a...
Academic freedom and the knowledge commons
By Matilda Fitzmaurice and Dion Georgiou This article represents an attempt to establish some basic, but contingent, principles on academic freedom. It does not put forward a ‘UCU Commons position’…
ucucommons.org
October 16, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Several Commons members attended the Academic Freedom conference, co-hosted by @ucu.org.uk and @eduinternational.bsky.social . Report forthcoming, but for now @matildaf.bsky.social and @drdiongeorgiou.bsky.social on 'Academic Freedom and the Knowledge Commons' (2024)
ucucommons.org/2024/03/22/a...
ucucommons.org/2024/03/22/a...
Reposted by UCU Commons
UCU hasn't focused on university governance, but it should. Like their Australian counterparts, British universities are "profoundly undemocratic." @markpendleton.bsky.social is right we should learn from those in Australia who are taking the fight forward on this! ucucommons.org/2025/10/03/s...
Setting The Agenda for Change in Higher Education: Lessons from Australia
A discussion paper by Mark Pendleton (UK-elected HE) [Featured photo: the Australian national flag flying beside the Aboriginal Flag of Australia] Preface UCU Commons has long argued for more delib…
ucucommons.org
October 9, 2025 at 3:25 PM
UCU hasn't focused on university governance, but it should. Like their Australian counterparts, British universities are "profoundly undemocratic." @markpendleton.bsky.social is right we should learn from those in Australia who are taking the fight forward on this! ucucommons.org/2025/10/03/s...
UK-elected rep @markpendleton.bsky.social is bringing this discussion paper to HEC on 10 October 2025, about what we can learn from our counterparts in Australia, the NTEU, who are beginning to change the narrative about the future of higher education. #UKHE #UCU
ucucommons.org/2025/10/03/s...
ucucommons.org/2025/10/03/s...
Setting The Agenda for Change in Higher Education: Lessons from Australia
A discussion paper by Mark Pendleton (UK-elected HE) [Featured photo: the Australian national flag flying beside the Aboriginal Flag of Australia] Preface UCU Commons has long argued for more delib…
ucucommons.org
October 9, 2025 at 12:08 PM
UK-elected rep @markpendleton.bsky.social is bringing this discussion paper to HEC on 10 October 2025, about what we can learn from our counterparts in Australia, the NTEU, who are beginning to change the narrative about the future of higher education. #UKHE #UCU
ucucommons.org/2025/10/03/s...
ucucommons.org/2025/10/03/s...