University Wankings Profile picture
Sep 25, 2020 8 tweets 2 min read Read on X
Apologies for the white hot ranty thread, but the Covid situation has highlighted how fundamental the problems are in higher education.

Headline Point: University leaderships really don't care about staff or students. A short thread.

1/
Everyone* knew this was coming. The situation wasn't ever fully under control, the movement of people across the world/country, into close proximity, was high risk. Staff and students would get sick, some would die.

*Except the head of UK's Track and Trace, apparently.

2/
UK Universities are in a situation where, often excessively mortgaged, they're always looking to cut costs and maximise income. Staff were already overworked and students are seen as numbers on a spreadsheet - although not by front line staff.

3/
Covid creates a perfect storm - universities need bums on seats, bodies* in beds, and mouths in catering - to maximise income, but these are literally life threatening propositions. Online bums on seats solves one problem, but could have hit enrolments...

*Excuse the pun

4/
So, in the interests of the bottom line, and in clear disregard for the lives and mental health of staff and students, universities brought as many people to campuses as possible, forcing a minimum of F2F teaching into the system to justify that.

5/
In the meantime they dumped as many contract staff as they could to cut costs and left the remaining staff in the dark until September regarding their teaching for the next academic year. We know online teaching takes WAY more work than F2F, but they still left it late.

6/
Many estates and cleaning staff will have worked - be working - insanely hard to make all of this work on campuses, but it was never going to. We had advanced warning from the US, but it was too late, heads were in the sand, fingers crossed. And now it's all fallen apart.

7/
They *KNEW* this would happen, and they went through with it anyway.

Individually, it was this or state loans and inspections. They could have stood together, drawn a line in the sand, and said no. But they're too selfishly competitive, so they chose this - over us.

8/End

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More from @UWankings

Feb 28, 2022
The strikes are hurting unis, raising solidarity, but the pain is mostly felt by staff/students. Unis lose face (a bit – press coverage sucks), are inconvenienced, but it's abundantly clear *managers don’t care* about HE/HE people.

A 🧵
#UniCivilDisobedience #OneOfUsAllOfUs
1/
Industrial action's impact on unis is watered as limited to specific union members who will/can afford to, ASOS/strike. But unless (and even if) union membership were greater, we’re limited by anti-union legislation and that we care so deeply about our work and students.
2/
There was a great thread (that we can’t find) by @JamesBSumner on the varied personal/political reasons that folks don’t engage with unions locally/nationally. It’s nuanced, not either/or. We need more membership, coordination between unions AND to co-opt non-union peeps.
3/
Read 34 tweets
Dec 2, 2021
Here's our Manifesto to address some of the fundamental problems in UK HE. 🧵

1. PENSIONS
USS gets told in no uncertain terms to sort their shit out, accept a prudent prediction that isn't based on imminent apocalypse, and to pay livable pensions.
1/9
#OneOfUsAllOfUs #UCUstrike
2. GENDER, RACE, AND DISABILITY INEQUALITY

All HEIs to commit to attaining Athena Swan Gold AND the Race Equality Charter as a first step towards deep cultural change. Also to develop and implement an equivalent scheme for disability.
2/9
#OneOfUsAllOfUs #UCUstrike
3. PAY

All staff to get a 5% pay raise, with a further £2K* for all women and an additional £2K* for all people in racial/ethnic minorities. If that pushes them beyond their current pay bracket, promote them.
3/9
(*Or pro Rata Equivalent)
#OneOfUsAllOfUs #UCUstrike
Read 9 tweets
Apr 1, 2021
Your regular reminder:

UK Higher Education IS institutionally racist…

…not least because the UK is institutionally racist, and these issues are highlighted (and magnified) in educational experiences and outcomes.

An evidence-based thread…🧵
1/
Before we get going, there is no profusion or absence of ability/talent or aspiration/ambition in any racial or ethnic group. Assuming the former is true is racist; the latter is used to explain away social inequalities. We do NOT live in a meritocracy.
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
2/
There are deep racial inequalities in education, with major variations between groups. These are gendered and classed (among other things) but factoring in these other dimensions still exposes racial inequalities. @NicolaRollock @CarolVincent100
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
3/
Read 17 tweets
Sep 27, 2020
Don't know who need to hear this*, but reducing tuition fees for *mostly* online learning might seem like common sense, but in fact it's not...universities can't reduce fees for a host of reasons.

Bit of a #TuitionFees thread.

*Seems to be a lot of people.

1/
N.B. a): 'Tuition Fee' is a misnomer. It pays for academic time and expertise in teaching, but also cleaning and maintenance, administration, the library, tech, some research, widening participation bursaries, MH and other support. And management and marketing.

#TuitionFees

2/
N.B. b): Expensive to run courses (engineering, medicine etc) are subsidised by 'cheaper' ones (social sciences, arts/humanities). Having lower/variable fees messes this (and access issues) up, as does likely earnings. In short: the £9K+ sticker price is a mess.

#TuitionFees

3/
Read 7 tweets
Aug 17, 2020
A large group of people goes to a restaurant and places their orders. The food comes, and despite protestations that the portions are both miserly and incorrect, the management insists that this is all they’re getting. The people are hungry, so they eat it.
#examshambles
1/
Just as they’re finishing their meals, the management returns and says that they had in fact been given the wrong food. Therefore, to make amends, they would now be given the right food, but this time in supersized portions.
#examshambles
2/
The older members of the group, who belong to the landed gentry, are experts in gluttony. They not only tuck in but also steal their neighbours' food. The victims protest to the management who claim helplessness but wink conspiratorially at the gluttons.
#examshambles
3/
Read 5 tweets
Aug 11, 2020
Lots of assumptions here, not much evidence.

Citations, rankings, and selective funding - a short thread.

(Although applying the term salami slicing to German HE is mildly amusing.)
The Exzellenzinitiative, in part driven by the nonsense of rankings and 'world leadingness', has created hierarchies in a university system which essentially didn't have them. It has allowed some universities to grow and develop at the expense of others.

2/
Sidenote: Imagine a sector in which universities don't expend time and money chasing internal and external metrics, marketising themselves etc...the focus is on research and teaching, public service, and no fees.

(Not that German HE is a paradise for students or ECRs, mind.)

2/
Read 5 tweets

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