State of the university report 2026
Sheffield Hallam UCU State of the University Report 2026. Previous cuts have reduced staffing to the lowest levels in the sector. Further proposed cuts exacerbate a death spiral of declining education and research quality, and ever declining income.
See: ucuhallam.org/e6bx
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Read more about our new Radical Histories book series in our blog post @manchesterup.bsky.social
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/blog/2026/04...
Thousands of Essex staff are currently suffering anxiety and sleepless nights at the hands of a disinterested senior management team. This award is a slap in the face to us all. If the #UniMentalHealthCharter means anything, it should be condemning Essex SMT, not giving them awards.
GENERAL STRIKE 100 YEARS ON
The general strike was extremely important in shaping the labour movement as we now know it.
The landmark anniversary is the perfect time to celebrate our history and commemorate those who took action for better jobs, pay & conditions and to learn lessons of the strike.
⏬️ If anyone should feel inclined to help with this, here's the link: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/farewell-l...
We're getting there! Thank you everyone. All pledges will go towards match funding for our Arts Council bid . Thank you your support means everything !
Shame on the so-called "leadership" of Coventry University. ⤵️
Her office said the Office for Students (OfS), which regulates universities, had received reports of speakers and lecturers being harassed and blocked for holding gender-critical or religious views, of foreign interference suppressing academic freedoms, and of ideological belief requirements featuring in job advertisements.
The OfS will be able to use the new complaints scheme from September. From April, it will be able to fine universities the greater of £500,000 or 2 per cent of their income, which would amount to millions of pounds for large institutions, for breaches under the Freedom of Speech Act. Ultimately, universities could be deregistered for egregious cases.
Bridget Phillipson will introduce new laws to make it possible for Universities to be fined millions of pounds if they don't silence students who protest bigots invited onto their campuses. It's like the Tories never left office.
Sure.
"This report is open access for the membership, the University Executive Board, MPs, the media, and the general public. Please share it widely." - @ucuhallam.bsky.social ⤵️
"Streeting is already rolling out Palantir technology across the NHS. He’s asking the public to accept vague reassurances while denying us access to the facts on the ground." ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
What a week for University of Essex staff fighting to stop ruinous cuts.
A massive vote of no confidence in vice-chancellor Frances Bowen and a chance to raise the case directly with the Department for Education.
#IBelieveThatWeWillWin
Read more: eastern.unison.org.uk/news/2026/04...
"Iran is winning the information war, and Maga only has itself to thank...
But it wouldn’t be possible if Trump hadn’t lowered the floor of American political discourse..." - @ninajankowicz.com in @thenerve.news
www.thenerve.news/p/nina-janko...
These folk make great political theatre: educating, entertaining, inspiring!
And touring to venues all around Britain.
Great interview: @helencarr.bsky.social talks to @brookenewman.bsky.social, author of The Crown's Silence.
www.hive.co.uk/Product/Broo...
Podcast here: www.podchaser.com/podcasts/int...
The crisis in UK higher education continues and so many people's careers are damaged. ⬇️
#JoinAUnion ⬇️
The right to protest is a fundamental right, not a privilege as some seem to think it should be. It is a cornerstone of our democracy.
A crackdown on dissent is almost always a sign of weakness not strength. ⤵️
Did the BBC assume that asylum applications, unlike every other area of society, were completely free of fraud? Seems like a total loss of perspective over their investigation, now into its second day of dominating their headlines
🎬 "The Man With The Plan" -
"an urgent film for our desperate times…a full-blown exposition on why if we had done what Beveridge advocated we might be in a better place today." - John Bird, @bigissue.com ⏬️
www.sandsfilms.co.uk/the-man-with...
The zeal with which universities enforce these rules stems from their fear of losing their sponsor licence, but seems incompatible with a duty of care to their students. But then international students are treated as cash cows not as people deserving care and respect.
The Russians are waging war against workers, a war against children. @sianushka.bsky.social talks to @snellarthur.bsky.social ⤵️
www.podchaser.com/podcasts/beh...
🎭 The @townsendprod.bsky.social one man show version of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is brilliant.
The tour continues this week with performances in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Scarborough and Manchester.
More to come in May. 🎭
www.townsendproductions.org.uk/shows/a-new-...
The Man With The Plan - I'm going to be looking out for a screening of this.
"The film follows a young person of today (Flea) discovering William Beveridge’s visionary 1942 plan to abolish Want, Disease, Squalor, Idleness and Ignorance, “the five giants”, and more."
pressat.co.uk/releases/sim...
Today, UNISON members joined a demonstration at the University of Glasgow.
After over a decade and a half of real-terms pay cuts, a broken funding model, course closures, cuts and redundancies, HE is in crisis.
We need a model based on free education.
#fundourfuture #fundourpay
Workers made history. We carry it forward.
100 years since the #GeneralStrike1926
Be part of the biggest #LDNMayDay for a generation
📅 4 May | RSVP: bit.ly/LDNMayDayRSVP
📽️Platform films
#MayDay #MayDay26 #GeneralStrike100
⏬️ #JoinAUnion ⏬️
⏬️ An important thread on pensions and employer coercion that makes clear why staff at @northumbriauni.bsky.social are taking further strike action this month.
Solidarity! #JoinAUnion ⏬️
Image shows yellow fixed penalty notice reading: “Penalty charge notice. Warning. Violation of workplace rights.” Text beneath reads: “Break the rules pay the price. The new Fair Work Agency, enforcing workplace rights.” Logo of Labour Unions
The new Fair Work Agency launches today.
Enforcement agents now have the power to punish employers who violate your rights at work.
This is a big win for workers after years of campaigning by trade unions.
