Sean Wallis – for UCU Vice President
For a stronger and more democratic UCU led by ordinary members
Introduction The supposedly 'irresistible' rise of Reform in the face of disappointment with Labour was yesterday (26 February 2026) stopped in Gorton and Denton by a surge to the Green Party. I wrote this opinion piece for the Times Higher Education a week ago in response to the question above, but they declined to publish… Continue reading How can we defend Higher Education in the face of ‘Reform UK’?
What the USS strike of 2018 tells us about the union today Introduction When Higher Education becomes a market, every Vice Chancellor and Senior Management Team see every other university as their competition. When they invest in campuses speculatively, and risk fortunes won and lost in the Great University Gamble, the sector enters a period… Continue reading USS 2018: ‘The fight of our lives’
In late 2015, following their re-election, the Conservative Government decided it was time to introduce laws to regulate the Higher Education £9K tuition fee market they had imposed in England in 2010 in coalition with the Lib Dems. They drafted a 'White Paper' (a precursor to a Bill). The Bill, when eventually published, had four… Continue reading Organising against the HE Bill 2016