STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK AND NEW PROTECTION LEVELS Dear colleagues, I am writing following the First Minister’s announcement that 11 local authority areas will be moving into Level 4 of Scotland’s Strategic Frameworkfrom 6pm on Friday 20 November. As the FM set out in Parliament, this difficult decision has been taken to protect the NHS, create the
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Latest UCU Branch guidance – The nomination period for the elected positions of UCU Scotland President and UCU Honorary Secretary, both of which provide a seat on the National Executive Committee, has been extended until 4pm, Tuesday 15 December. Candidates may submit to one or both positons. For further details on the extension, please click
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Dear colleague, UCU has called on the government and universities to switch to fully online teaching as the default for the duration of next term. We have not taken this decision lightly but we believe that it is in the best interests of staff, students and the public. Read the story outlining our position here.
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Recently UCU warned ministers that a £1bn funding deal for Scotland’s universities could have ‘damaging consequences’ for the sector. With funding levels not having risen in line with inflation, UCU warned that the higher education sector was facing further real terms cuts. Speaking to STV following the announcement of the funding allocations for universities for 2019/20, UCU Scotland official Mary
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UCU is still offering free membership to PhD Teaching Students for 4 years! This is a unique opportunity for you to join our Union and take advantage of all that we can offer our members. See here for our presentation. It is very quick to join. Just visit https://www.ucu.org.uk and then press the button marked
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On 31 January 2017 The Herald printed a factual article on the resolution of UCU’s dispute with the University of Stirling. You can read it here. Higher education is undergoing a period of significant change. Being a member of UCU is the first step towards tackling: Threats to research funding from Brexit An ongoing lack
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Dear colleagues Recently, the House of Lords backed an amendment to the higher education (HE) bill that says universities’ performance in the teaching excellence framework (TEF) should not be linked to the tuition fees they are allowed to charge. This is a significant blow for the government and the result of a great deal of
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Governance Act We have received an update from the higher education minister, Shirley-Anne Somerville, on the timescales for implementing the governance act and outlining when different aspects of the act will come into force. The letter received is attached. In line with what we’d previously been informed the provisions of the act were commenced at
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UCU continues to keep the heat on universities with our ‘stamp out casual contracts’ campaign. Following an excellent day of action against precarious employment UCU general secretary Sally Hunt has spoken out in the Times Higher Education (THE) on HE institutions’ inadequate response to published data showing an exploitative employment model.
Members at the University of Aberdeen took strike action on Wednesday, 7th December in response to the University’s plans to cut jobs and downgrade staff within the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition. If you would like to send messages of support and solidarity, please send these to the Aberdeen branch – ucu@abdn.ac.uk