Hundreds of academics, staff and students are holding mass strikes and demonstrations at one of the largest universities in the country today, over decisions to cut jobs and almost two thirds of the courses on offer from next year.
Picket lines will be set up at London Metropolitan University from 8am this morning as members of UNISON and UCU unions agreed to a day strike at the institution on the same day as a board of governors meeting and a week before up to 750,000 public sector workers are set to strike in defence of their pensions.
Unrest amongst some staff and students has risen at the central London university since management announced plans to cut 70 per cent of its courses, closing subjects such as History, Modern Languages, Philosophy, and Performing Arts, as well as around 200 Business courses.
The only undergraduate Caribbean studies course in the country is also due to shut, with the University stating that 86 jobs are planned to be axed for support and administrative staff in the university’s first round of compulsory redundancies. Union members dispute these figures and said numbers of announced job losses are already closer to 200.
The two unions, who represent 970 staff, said the University has refused to enter into negotiations with them about providing a voluntary redundancy package or to clarify how many staff could lose their jobs. Lessons at the University have finished for the term, but it is thought strikes could delay the marking of students’ exams.
The university has been facing a major deficit after it lost £36 million of government money in 2009, which it had falsely claimed from the Higher Education Funding Council for England after providing inaccurate student data.
London Met Vice Chancellor Malcolm Gillies said he was “disappointed” with the union’s decision to strike. He said 80 per cent of students were on 80 per cent of the university’s courses and the reduction on offer from 557 to 175 was needed to meet the “deplorable” new government fee regimes. The University is due to charge fees of on average £6,850 from 2012.
Mr Gillies said: “We have had to balance four factors – the cost, demand, employability and affordability of our courses – to create our new curriculum, which contains a good tight body of subjects which will command good attention of the market…Denial would be the most dangerous course of all, it could lead to delusion.
“London Met is out in front of other British universities and is maybe a year ahead in making changes, because we have a financial penalty to pay, but all universities are going to have to take an extra hard look at their curriculum…so that they can reasonably defend the defined space they have in the best way they can.”
A student rally is also taking place at one of London Met’s campuses today, organised by Education Activist Network and including speeches by general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union Mark Serwotka.
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, whose constituency includes one of London Met’s campuses, said the University has a “great record of providing university education for students from poor and minority ethnic backgrounds” as well as local adults “who would otherwise be denied University opportunities.”
He said: “I am appalled by the new round of cuts based on Government funding decisions but also disagree with the course reductions and opportunities for study made by the Board. [The] March and rally, which I will attend, is about the rights and opportunities for University education for everybody.”
A shorter version of this article appeared here in The Independent.
