University and College Union (UCU), which supports over 120,000 academics and support staff in the UK, has put a halt to its strikes across the nation for two weeks after nearing an agreement on pensions, pay, and working conditions.
On February 18, the Union decided on a “two-week period of calm” with University employers after significant progress in negotiations.
Universities across the UK have been demanding an inflation-linked pay rise, an end to casualised contracts, and a reversal of cuts to retirement benefits made in April 2022.
The development is a sign of relief for thousands of international students, a significant portion of which are Indians, who have missed out on lectures due to the strikes.
“We have got confirmation that our lectures will go as planned on Thursday and hope that it continues to be the case next week,” said a student, who is pursuing her Master’s from City, University of London and didn’t wish to be named.
“Our lecturers were striking for 18 days which could have led to us missing 7 weeks worth of classes this semester from a total of 10 weeks,” the student added.
Universities take steps to address issues with lectures
According to Universities UK (UUK), which serves as a ‘collective voice’ for 140 institutions across the country, certain universities extended their deadlines for coursework or rescheduled teaching in order to minimise the impact of strikes on students.
“Though our in-person lectures were affected due to the strikes, some classes were attended by us online or they were conducted by substitute teachers,” said Vidhi Shetty, a student at the University of Liverpool, who added that most of the protests were ‘silent’ at her varsity.
UCU welcomes ‘student support’ in strikes
UCU has also appreciated the participation of students in its strikes as the union stated that it was "overwhelmed by the support of thousands of students" who joined picket lines for the teaching staff.
“The strikes can impact our assessment deadlines and hamper our grades but it also makes sense for the teachers to fight for their rights because it doesn’t make sense for them to teach us if they are not getting paid,” said Aditya Jain, a student at De Montfort University, who received flyers and requests of participation in the strikes from teachers at his varsity.
All eyes on March strikes
Though the halt in strikes could lead to lecturers making their way back into classrooms, students remain doubtful about what happens after 2 weeks.
“Strike actions will still be held in March as previously planned, which is what worries us,” said Shruti, a Psychology student at Birbeck, University of London.
UCU members are now being balloted on whether to extend a mandate for the strikes, which could lead to another six months of walkouts by University teaching staff across the UK.
The pause to strikes has received flak from certain sectors of the higher education space in the UK.
“If we are actually serious about winning big, the pressure needs to be kept on,” said a tweet by Sol Gamsu, a researcher and UCU branch president at Durham University, who lamented the lack of consultation from universities before calling off strikes.
(Some names in the story have been changed due to requests)
