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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

10 days left of university due to strikes!

40 replies

Cranmer · 26/01/2023 22:15

DD is in her 3rd and final year of university. She has just told me that she has a total of 10 days left of university due to the lecturers' strikes.

Her lecturers/class teachers are taking action in Week 4,5,6,7 and 10, and these are on her heavy 'uni' days. (Her final term is for exams only.)

This is not the university experience she expected for 27K. What with covid wiping out most of the 1st year, it has been so rubbish for the class of 2020-23.

OP posts:
SandyIrvine · 27/01/2023 07:56

Current dispute has been going on since 2018. My DDs uni could well afford to settle. I wish they would.

My DD is not quite so affected. Helped that one module has confirmed they are not striking (can't afford to). If all days go ahead she will miss 40-50% of the remaining modules.

Last year DD claimed some compensation money from her uni (although not called compensation). She used it towards a summer course. @Cranmer if your DDs uni does the same encourage her to claim. They never checked that you used it for the purpose you claimed.

JWR · 27/01/2023 08:58

DD started in 2019 on a 4 year programme. Strikes, covid or both every year and her discipline area and university are highly unionised. I have a lot of sympathy with the academics but it’s undeniable that the programme has been very limited.

bestbefore · 27/01/2023 13:14

It's awful isn't it? My DD goes back for the next term this weekend but there doesn't seem much point?
Any idea what happens with the credit she was supposed to work for this term when there's virtually no teaching? How's she supposed to get the marks? And then actually pass 2nd year.

SandyIrvine · 27/01/2023 13:45

Teaching started earlier for my DD so she has 3 weeks unaffected.

This is what her uni says "Where the industrial action means that some teaching has been cancelled, your School will ensure that any subsequent assessment you take (i.e. coursework, exams etc.) does not test you on content that has not been adequately covered." So exams might be a bit shorter this term.

I do have sympathy with lecturers. It is not the profession it was.

SilverGlitterBaubles · 27/01/2023 16:09

Looks like DD is going to be impacted for most of February so has decided to come back home as most in her halls are doing the same. Then there's Mar also. Meanwhile we are paying a fort for accommodation that will not be used. It's a complete scam.

Original poster
Cranmer · 27/01/2023 18:32

DD will have a whole month off uni. She will have 4 hours of lectures for one module in total.

Luckily, she decided to commute for her final year as rents were eye-wateringly expensive. so she will save £24 a day in train fare, but that is not the point.

OP posts:
bestbefore · 27/01/2023 18:37

I can't even see anything about it on the uni website, they've communicated with students but of course we as mere fee payers / student supporters don't get any info whatsoever!
I think given what this tranche of kids have been through it all seems very cruel to punish them over and over again. Not really sure striking actually works either!

SilverGlitterBaubles · 27/01/2023 18:52

@bestbefore I agree as fee payers and ultimately the guarantors for all our DCs it would be nice to be in the loop with something as crucial as this especially for 1st year. They have just gone back and now it looks like there's not much point in being there. It's just unsettling for them as they are getting into it and also if they have part time work in their uni town they will miss out on this if they come back home.

bestbefore · 27/01/2023 19:07

@SilverGlitterBaubles my dd is now 2nd year and it was bad last year as well - including lots of stuff which was online 😔

SilverGlitterBaubles · 27/01/2023 21:19

It's shameful, DD is enjoying her course but I feel like it could actually be completed in half the time if they actually put the time in.

Pinkdafodils · 28/01/2023 13:37

DD is in her 3rd and final year of university. She has just told me that she has a total of 10 days left of university due to the lecturers' strikes.

That's shocking Shock. Are there that many strikes planned for the next two terms??

My dd is also in her 2rd year but is currently on an Erasmus exchange abroad (non striking) so thankfully not affected.

Pinkdafodils · 28/01/2023 13:37

Sorry my dd is also in her 3rd year (not 2nd)

Revengeofthepangolins · 28/01/2023 13:48

Am not best amused either. My son in second year at UCL has few enough contact hours as it is, and the strike days seem to rarely hit his empty ones. And they block access to online lectures on strike days. I don't see how this term's modules can be learnt or examined. Next term was no teaching anyway, which I also feel is poor.

SilverGlitterBaubles · 30/01/2023 07:14

@Pinkdafodils I believe it is 18 days over Feb and March which when you consider the amount of contact time they have and any study leave or whatever time off they will have it doesn't leave much actual learning. Students are being treated so badly, I am surprised that parents are not more vocal about this.

SleepyMathematician · 01/02/2023 07:00

I’m a mature student and whilst I support the lecturers, I’m really angry about the whole thing. One lecture tomorrow, one next Tuesday and then that’s basically it for the rest of the year. The uni are giving a load of bull about how the money is tied to our complete uni experience and noodle will still be there, we can do our reading lists and learn that way, we can get ourselves together for discussions etc, but I need lectures. If I learnt well over a screen or from books I wouldn’t have been paying all these thousands. I gave up so much to do this, dropped to part time employment, will be repaying it for decades, and for what between now and April? The strike days all coincide with my lecture days.
The uni are happy to flash the cash on fancy buildings and all kinds of other stuff, just pay the staff properly. They shouldn’t be allowed to take what are already huge amounts of money from students and not deliver anything.

watchfulwishes · 01/02/2023 07:05

This is not the university experience she expected for 27K. The lecturers on low wages with no job security are not having a great experience either.

Every striking worker is a human being too.

gleegeek · 01/02/2023 10:05

I feel the students should be protesting! The strikes are affecting them directly, not the university. They should be entitled to a refund for these weeks (and last years...) I support the lecturers but I wish they could find a way to protest which didn't directly impact the students who will be in debt for decades for a substandard service.

FallonofDynasty · 01/02/2023 13:16

gleegeek · 01/02/2023 10:05

I feel the students should be protesting! The strikes are affecting them directly, not the university. They should be entitled to a refund for these weeks (and last years...) I support the lecturers but I wish they could find a way to protest which didn't directly impact the students who will be in debt for decades for a substandard service.

How though? The lecturers aren't going to specifically down tools on their research as that would affect their careers far more directly than teaching .

hryllilegur · 01/02/2023 13:24

gleegeek · 01/02/2023 10:05

I feel the students should be protesting! The strikes are affecting them directly, not the university. They should be entitled to a refund for these weeks (and last years...) I support the lecturers but I wish they could find a way to protest which didn't directly impact the students who will be in debt for decades for a substandard service.

The business of the university is (in large part) teaching students.

If the university staff withdraw their labour because their pay and conditions are inadequate, then that means the university (which has agreed to provide the students with an education - no individual member of staff has directly agreed to it) is unable to provide the classes it promised.

Rather than being annoyed with the striking staff, the students should be angry with the university for not sorting out its labour issues sufficiently in order to deliver what they promised their students. Take it up with the university management. Complain to them that they have failed to provide what they said they would.

The universities affected could have avoided this by ensuring that they provided decent pay and conditions for their staff. They haven’t done so. That’s the problem.

hryllilegur · 01/02/2023 13:27

FallonofDynasty · 01/02/2023 13:16

How though? The lecturers aren't going to specifically down tools on their research as that would affect their careers far more directly than teaching .

Show quote history

They are downing tools on their research for the strike though. Or should be.

Quite a lot of them always have to do their research (which is part of their job duties) in their spare time because the workload imposed on them for teaching, pastoral care, outreach, recruitment, admin and management is such that there is no time for research.

Not all of them, because this labour is never spread evenly. There are a lot of women - man precariously employed - carrying this load and not doing research so that middle aged male academics can have loads of time to be research stars.

Be angry with the university leadership. Not the striking staff.

Pinkdafodils · 01/02/2023 13:55

More students will go study in other countries rather than the UK, so this strike action will be harming universities longer term due to lower student numbers.

I feel awful for the current students as they've suffered soo much during covid already Sad

Shivermetimbers0112 · 01/02/2023 17:22

@watchfulwishes here’s one University pay scale. Grade 7 is a lecturer. Grade 8 an Associate Professor. Professors earn significantly more than the Grade 9 minimum. Low pay? And the employer pays c23% as a pension contribution. Don’t take all the UCU hyperbole at face value.

10 days left of university due to strikes!
mushroom3 · 03/02/2023 00:03

My DD has just started semester 2 this week. It seems that the number of strike days is being increased week on week so that in 3 weeks time they will only have lectures on 1 day per week. I'm not sure how students are supposed to pass exams if they are getting no teaching!

Original poster
Cranmer · 03/02/2023 06:56

DD feels like she is paying her uni fees for a library card this term. The lecturer yesterday spent 40 minutes of their lecture discussing the validity of the strikes, then told the students to look at the rest of her lecture slides online. This is a top university where most overseas students are paying 23k a year.

OP posts:
OntarioBagnet · 03/02/2023 07:02

bestbefore · 27/01/2023 18:37

I can't even see anything about it on the uni website, they've communicated with students but of course we as mere fee payers / student supporters don't get any info whatsoever!
I think given what this tranche of kids have been through it all seems very cruel to punish them over and over again. Not really sure striking actually works either!

Have you really paid the 9k a year tuition fees upfront?

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