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Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · 22h

Cardiff University Kazakhstan featuring on BBC Wales Today, with contribution from Cardiff UCU's @llantwit.bsky.social

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Reposted by Cardiff UCU

QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · 3d

Your Sunday read on #UKHE:

Mischaracterised by university leaders as financial ‘saving’, austerity is in truth vandalism. It ravages decades of training, accrued and accredited knowledge, and publicly funded research. It abandons generations of students as the campuses and scholarly communities we invite them to join become, in multiple senses, impoverished. The fact that the asphyxiation of British higher education does not instantly count as a national scandal underlines the extent to which the austerity mindset continues to constrain our political imagination: even when the collapse of higher education is perceived as a problem, policymakers, academics, and the communities they serve are left with little recourse. One can only despair at the lack of viable alternatives.

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Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · 1d

www.bbc.co.uk/cymrufyw/ert...

Prifysgol Caerdydd yn amddiffyn campws newydd yn Kazakhstan

Prifysgol Caerdydd yn mynnu bod campws newydd yn Kazakhstan yn cynnig cyfleoedd i'r brifysgol ac i Gymru ar ôl i undeb godi pryderon am y cynllun.

www.bbc.co.uk

Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · 1d

‘Prof Larner said establishing the campus was "low risk", while acknowledging that the former Soviet republic was "in an interesting part of the world" at a "volatile time geopolitically".'

Cardiff University defends Kazakhstan campus amid concerns

Hundreds of students have started lectures at the new campus, which is 3,712 miles from Cardiff.

www.bbc.co.uk

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UCU University of Kent branch @ucukent.bsky.social · 6d

This is a very necessary but depressing list.
More jobs being cut.
Worse for staff and worse for students.
Our working conditions are student learning conditions.

QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · 7d

hm. Haven't had to update our webpage on the cuts in #UKHE for a while. Kinda assumed the consequences of the Clearing cycle would be transpiring by now. Or was every university just already in disaster mode and not much new to report?

UK HE shrinking

a live page of all the redundancies and restructures happening across UK Higher Education. Page is updated regularly.

qmucu.org

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Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · 6d

Modern Languages; Music; and History, Archaeology & Religion remain in scope.

Compulsory redundancy is a red line.

It is time to vote in the consultative ballot on industrial action NOW - the deadline is tomorrow.

Almost 200 Cardiff University staff left in limbo as they face losing jobs

Cardiff University confirmed it cannot rule out compulsory redundancies as it also apologised to students for problems with a new timetabling system as the academic year begins

www.walesonline.co.uk

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Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · 12d

More 'disruptive innovation'...

Senior academic apologises for timetabling chaos at Cardiff University

Martin Shipton A senior academic manager at Cardiff University has apologised to staff for major disruption caused by the introduction of a new computer timetabling system before the start of the new ...

nation.cymru

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Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · 12d

'Huddled under blankets in my freezing office, because the anti-suicide lock on the window has seized slightly ajar, I am – like everyone –frantically trying to make it work for the students, [since] any hit in our student satisfaction scores will be an excuse for management to cut more jobs.'

Huge Cardiff University Cuts Have Been A Disaster For Staff & Students -

Reading Time: 3 minutesMonths since bosses at Wales’ biggest university imposed dramatic cuts, an anonymous academic reveals what…

voice.cymru

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Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · 13d

Members! September is flying away, so that means it is time to check your emails to vote in the indicative ballot. Deadline Oct 3rd.

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Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · 19d

A reminder to members to vote in the indicative ballot by October 3rd

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Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · 19d

A state of emergency in Welsh and UK higher education

Bangor University staff in vice chancellor vote of no confidence

UCU union members at Bangor University passed a motion of no confidence due to staff and budget cuts.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · Aug 14

Such deeply sad news for @hefindavid.bsky.social 's loved ones & community. Such a loss.

Hefin was a great friend of our branch & a committed
@ucu.org.uk member - we will always be grateful for his solidarity.

Hefin David, Welsh Labour politician and MS for Caerphilly, dies suddenly

Hefin David had been Member of the Senedd (MS) for Caerphilly since 2016.

www.bbc.co.uk

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QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · Jul 11

“measures like firing people and closing programmes always seem tough yet rejuvenating, yet always block recovery and hasten decline.“

Neat-yet-painful summary of Where We’re At with #UKHE. The fatalism is understandable but disastrous. None of this is inevitable. isrf.org/blog/a-new-r...

The final stages blend “grasping” and “capitulation” in a toxic and potentially fatal mix. The tales of cuts, closures, and intrusions I heard over the last month point to three main elements.

First, programmes and collective expertise that took decades to build are abruptly thrown away.

Second, financial factors dictate academic outcomes with unappealable force. Finance is owned and deployed by administrators with unilateral legal and institutional backing from governing bodies. Usually no coherent and complete financial data are offered such that staff can understand the forces destroying their careers, much less develop and negotiate a better plan.

Third are the partners in destruction: staff apathy, fatalism and/or resignation. These attitudes are both completely understandable and now completely unaffordable. They come from academics seeing no mechanism for engagement or authorized path to better results.

To repeat, it’s understandable that the relatively powerless feel defeated. But fatalism locks in the idea that firings, closures and cuts are the only solutions available to UK and US university managers. This idea is slowly ruining the intellectual functions and educational effects of higher education, perhaps irreversibly.

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Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · Jul 11

8 members of Cardiff Uni Senate resign.

“The relationship between the university’s executive board, including the vice-chancellor and the university’s staff and students is now described as toxic and devoid of even a minimum level of trust”

Senior academics resign as managers push through Cardiff University job cuts | Morning Star

morningstaronline.co.uk

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Reposted by Cardiff UCU

Ronald Hartz @ronaldhartz.bsky.social · Jul 8

'One staff member from the School of Arts, Culture, and Language said: “This consultation has been a shambles. All four Business Cases were riddled with inaccuracies, missing data, and were completely inaccessible."'

#UKHE
#HigherEd

bangorucu.bsky.social @bangorucu.bsky.social · Jul 8

Staff and students at Bangor University deserve better than a chaotic and rushed consultation that was full of mistakes

88% of staff voted YES to strike, because our members know a joke of a process when they see one, with decisions having been made long beforehand

nation.cymru/news/staff-a...

Staff and students slam ‘shambolic’ Bangor redundancy consultation as union wins strike ballot

The union representing university staff has won a consultative ballot on industrial action of its members following a consultation process over job losses at Bangor that has been have condemned as “a ...

nation.cymru

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Reposted by Cardiff UCU

21 Group @21group.bsky.social · Jun 25

Welsh Universities are ignored by Welsh Gov't & left to burn

Wales is behind England, Scotland & N Ireland in both teaching & research funding. Wales has lowest rates of 18yr olds applying to uni

Wales is becoming a country that can't afford its future

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/educati...

'Real danger a university in Wales will collapse next year'

The prediction comes as one university Vice Chancellor described the current funding situation to MPs as 'like tumbling around in a washing machine'

www.walesonline.co.uk

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NationCymru @nation.cymru · Jun 26

A distinguished archaeologist and academic who publicly opposed Cardiff University’s cuts programme has been ‘spitefully’ denied a status often given to retired professors ✍️ Martin Shipton

Cardiff University academic who objected to cuts robbed of title through 'spite'

Martin Shipton A distinguished archaeologist and academic who publicly opposed Cardiff University’s cuts programme has been “spitefully” denied a status often given to retired professors. James Whitle...

nation.cymru

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QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · Jun 26

QMUL has removed 200 roles in just the last two years. Staggered reorganisations and stealth exits mean the number doesn’t hit the headlines in one moment, but the impact is no less for it in our university.

#SaveHE #UKHE

qmucu.org/2025/06/26/s...

Stealth redundancies & staggered cuts

Management is avoiding headlines, but cumulatively we’ve lost 200 colleagues already.

qmucu.org

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Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · Jun 26

We have serious concerns about this 👇

Andy Williams @llantwit.bsky.social · Jun 23

“Students threatened with jail if they protest without permission.”
@CardiffUCU - “we think it raises serious worries about staff and students’ right to protest as well as potentially endangering legitimate trade union activities”
👀👇
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/educati...

Cardiff Uni students threatened with jail for unpermitted campus protests

Cardiff University has obtained a High Court injunction in response to the now-disbanded Palestine camp outside its main building

www.walesonline.co.uk

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Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · Jun 26

Just one example of 'the really sad loss of incredibly important specialist research groups doing important work that impacts lives and economies in all sorts of different ways.'

Seafarers' health and welfare research gets the chop as Cardiff shutters SIRC

The renowned Seafarers International Research Centre (SIRC) – which was set up in 1995 on the initiative of Nautilus International General Secretary Mark Dickinson who at the time ran the ITF Seafarer...

www.nautilusint.org

Reposted by Cardiff UCU

Confront @confrontpower.bsky.social · Jun 18

NEW: Confront investigation into the ongoing repercussions of the asbestos industry in UK universities. Decades after asbestos was banned we reveal the remaining asbestos still present on campuses, related illnesses, and enormous costs universities are left with. confrontpower.org/the-enduring...

Terminal illnesses and endless costs: the enduring legacy of the asbestos industry in UK universities | Confront Power

Decades after it was fully banned, asbestos is still an issue across the UK's higher education system.

confrontpower.org

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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · Jun 23

That makes this infographic particularly galling. 'This stuff is all great and essential, but we're gonna... let it all fall apart'. Suuuure Jan, right you are. 🤷‍♂️ (3/3)

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Reposted by Cardiff UCU

NationCymru @nation.cymru · Jun 23

Vice Chancellor Larner wants Cardiff University to be a ‘living experiment’, as a ‘part social innovation lab, part corporate partnership innovation centre, part civic system transition space’ with constant ‘creative destruction and continual regeneration’

Lecturers from Cardiff University predict its dystopian future

Anonymous What will a “leaner and more efficient” Cardiff University look like? Cardiff University’s Executive Board has set out their vision for ‘digital transformation’ in Wales in 2035, where ‘digi...

wp.me

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Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social · Jun 20

A brilliant take down of the reckless tech-bro optimism of Cardiff University management plans.

'A flagship national university cannot be run like a tech startup.'

Indeed, *no* university should be run like that!

Disruption and market futurology at Cardiff University - Institute of Welsh Affairs

Cardiff University academics explain how the pace of cuts, commercialisation and techno-speculation at the institution risk its collapse.

www.iwa.wales

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Reposted by Cardiff UCU

Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · Jun 19

Now 99 universities officially making redundancies, and I've heard of a few more to take us over the 100 mark. If I were a student, I'd be 'shocked and offended' by that more than anything else. Still nothing is done. qmucu.org/qmul-transfo...

UK HE shrinking

a live page of all the redundancies and restructures happening across UK Higher Education. Page is updated regularly.

qmucu.org

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