With teachers on strike since February 22, the row centres around pension changes that universities across the UK want to impose on members of the Universities Superannuation Scheme.
A banner supporting lecturer strikes is displayed outside the University College of London, Britain February 22, 2018. Credit: Reuters/Peter Summers
The teaching staff of universities in the United Kingdom (UK) have gone on strike since February 22. The row centres around pension changes that universities across the UK want to impose on members of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). If the changes come in, a typical lecturer would be at a minimum, 10,000 pounds a year worse off in retirement than under the current set-up. Understandably, the staff are unhappy at the proposal and in the recent strike ballot, University and College Union (UCU) members overwhelmingly backed industrial action.
The USS is one of the largest principal private pension schemes for universities & other higher education institutions in the UK. The UCU members see the strike action as a last resort, to put forth their demands, which are as follows:
- The employers want to end the guaranteed pension benefits, which they are opposing.
- They are opposing the proposal that pension should depend on how ‘investments’ perform and not on the employees’ contributions.
- This proposes huge risk to the future of USS scheme members.
The 6.5 billion pound ‘deficit’ in the pension fund that Universities UK (UUK) claims is pushing them to get rid of defined benefits for its academic employers. UCU is arguing that there is no deficit in the pension fund but rather this figure is being created due to marketisation of education and problematic future projections where pensions are directly linked to the market.
However, UK campuses have never seen a strike action of this scale, but the anger and frustration amongst university staff is palpable. With this industrial action, all the classes on strike days have been cancelled in most of the UK universities. Few teachers who have decided not to participate in the strike are holding classes, but for the students it is a dilemma to cross the human pickets created by their professors and students’ unions. Moreover, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) staff has decided to abstain from the strikes and participation from Oxbridge has been low. Nonetheless, overall participation in the strike has been overwhelming with more than 60 universities taking part.
Protestors hold banners outside the University of London on February 22. Credit: Reuters/Peter Summers
The annoyance amongst international students is high, as most of the students here are either self-funded or on loans. It will cost them approximately 35-40 classes altogether – a huge loss in terms of the education received at the culmination of their degrees. The strike action finds students in a precarious situation, where they seem to understand the position of their teachers and support them, but the strike is also penalising them by missing out on major part of their education.
The UK education system is anyway in question over the number of contact hours and one-year masters degrees, which seems to suit the financial structures more than the cause of education. Most of the students here are on loan and the fees that are increasing every year is the major concern for them. The fact that classes lost will not be compensated for is a huge set back for the students’ community.
Moreover, the fee disparity between the EU and non-EU students is more than double, where non-EU students end up paying more for the same degree. Even for the EU students the industrial action, which kicks off on February 22, will mean cancelled lectures, tutorials and seminars, which could have a significant impact on students who pay 9,000 pounds annual tuition fees and build up debts of up to £50,000 after going to university.
One of the local UK students studying in School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), who has returned to a university after 12 years said, “It has taken a lot for me to return to a classroom after so many years. I have come here to complete my education and make a good life for myself, but these strikes have left me in limbo, as I will never get the same experience that I signed up for.”
Protesters hold banners outside the University of London on February 22. Credit: Reuters/Peter Summers
On the other hand, the top pay in the universities is rising, but the teaching and non-teaching staff don’t seem to benefit from this. An Indian student raised similar concerns, “Studying is expensive, and studying in London is very expensive. I came to SOAS for its education having taken a loan, which I will be paying back for a few years to come. I came here for the professors and I am appalled that they are being stripped of a dignified retirement with USS pension cuts.”
This whole debate has raised many questions and brought out the fault lines in the UK education system, where the teaching faculty’s battle is just and based on the right of social security in education. But this struggle is also affecting the students who will end up with large debts and incomplete education in the end. Just like one cannot use capitalism/money/advertising to dismantle consumerism/globalisation/mental pollution, the struggle for social security cannot be based in the selective struggles against the marketisation of education.
As Dr Navtej Purewal, Deputy Director of the South Asia Institute and member of faculty in the department of Development Studies at SOAS commented, “Despite the disruption to teaching, students seem largely to be understanding of the pensions dispute. Solidarity between students and faculty in standing up to the neoliberal turn within higher education shows that we are all in this together. Students are paying higher prices for education delivered by faculty who are being undermined by being made less secure.”
The limited interference of government in the provision of education services has further increased the inequality. The need to regulate the education system and axing of profit-making and client satisfaction at the expense of offering knowledge has to be ensured. It is essential that teachers and students fight against this commercialisation of education, where the future of next generation students and teachers is at stake.
Rutuja Deshmukh Wakankar is a former journalist with Indian Express. She has taught Cinema Studies at Allahabad University. And is currently pursuing Masters in South Asian Area Studies at SOAS London and is President of SOAS India Society.