Staff Redundancies, Strike Action, & Student Solidarity: How Did We Get Here?
In a survey conducted by The Student, an overwhelming majority of students said that they would support industrial action by university staff in the next academic year 2025/26.
60 per cent of respondents also said that their tutors or lecturers had spoken to them about the university’s finances and potential future strike action.
This emerges after a semester of controversy, with university management, staff unions, and the student body all having different perspectives on the situation as it develops.
A brief chronology of events:
On Tuesday 11 February, Vice-Chancellor Sir Peter Mathieson sent an email to university staff, warning them that “nothing is off the table” in the institution’s response to alleged financial difficulties. Responses could include, but are not limited to, restructuring departments, staff redundancies, merging schools, and outsourcing services, aiming to impose £140m in budget cuts.
In response, the University and College Union (UCU) Edinburgh stated that they are firmly opposed to compulsory redundancies. UCU Edinburgh have also accused the university’s senior management of “manufacturing a crisis to justify cuts.”
The majority of the student body was unaware of the proposed budget and spending cuts at this point.
On Tuesday 25 February, Colm Harmon, Vice-Principal Students, and Lucy Evans, Deputy Secretary Students, sent an email to students. The email referenced future courses being cut from programmes and staff leaving the university. It then concluded that senior management will be “working tirelessly” to protect the University of Edinburgh’s reputation.
In an interview The Student conducted with Mathieson on 24 March 2025, the Principal defended his track record while saying he regrets that “students are caught in the crossfire of a dispute that’s not their making.”
In January, Mathieson accepted a pay-rise of £9,247 or 2.5 per cent. News later broke in March that he had accepted a paid position on the board of Roslin Cell Therapies.
The full extent of budget cuts are yet to be fully clarified and disclosed, but it has already been announced that the cafe in the School of Social and Political Science will no longer be staffed, despite a petition with over 1,000 signatures from staff and students opposing this.
When asked when they first became aware of financial issues and planned budget cuts, most students cited sources other than university management.
Amanda, a first-year student, said that she first heard about it in a statistics lecture.
Jess, a fourth-year History student, said her course leader and The Student made her aware of the events.
Charlotte, a third-year studying Law, also said that UCU were a source of information.
Over half of the students surveyed also said that their university lecturers or tutors had spoken to them in class about the university’s approach to spending cuts.
Most students also supported future strike action from the teaching body.
Sam, first-year History student, said “our university runs in the green” in reference to financial mismanagement and disproportionate cuts.
An English Literature student said they would support the strikes as staff “deserve fair pay, rights, and protection” and called senior management “incompetent” in their handling of the situation.
Morgan, studying History and Politics, said they were aware of financial issues before starting at the University of Edinburgh in September 2024, adding:
“If that means that [strike action] I have to miss out on my own learning so that I and future students may have a better learning environment in the future, that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.”
However, some students remain opposed to future industrial action, stating concerns about the impact on student experience. One said they would not support strikes unless alternative learning material was provided due to the “high tuition” cost of their degree.
Another second-year student said that financial trouble is an “ongoing theme throughout my time at university.” They said they are “disappointed with the effort put in by many UoE staff,” citing “extremely slow feedback return times” as an example. They added that “staff are often not keeping to their end of the deal” and it “consistently feels that students bear the brunt of staff politics.”
UCU Edinburgh have previously criticised staff workload, pay, and working conditions across both higher education and at the University of Edinburgh. UCU Edinburgh President, Sophia Woodman, has previously told The Student that staff are dealing with an “overwhelming amount of work” due to increasing class sizes and marking loads.
A member of staff told The Student that they have spoken to their students about the university’s finances, and that they are a member of a trade union. They added that they are not confident in the ability of university management to respond to financial issues:
“All scarcity is manufactured. The ‘crisis’ is not real. That being said, senior management do not have a clear goal other than financial solvency, which is not a long-term goal nor does it align with known budgetary constraints or educational objectives.”
The scale of budget cuts will continue to unfold in the next academic year, but university staff and students have made their opposition to these changes clear as this semester draws to a close.
Image via Ida Middlemiss Frost.