Starting university is an exciting time — your first time living away from home; going to clubs every night; studying a subject you have always been passionate about. It takes years of hard work and dedication to get here, to Edinburgh, and finally you get to walk the historic corridors, notebook in hand, and immerse yourself in dark academia vibes as you work hard and attend all of your classes. And then it hits week two, and all of your teaching is cancelled due to strikes.
The industrial dispute between the University of Edinburgh and the University and College Union’s Edinburgh branch (UCUE) is long-running and multi-faceted, and becoming increasingly tense.
The UCUE have called a five-week long strike to last from week two to week six of the Autumn 2026 term: from September 28 to October 30. For students, this means no classes with partaking lecturers and tutors, which calls into question the ability for affected courses to sit midterm assessments, and even final exams.
The industrial action is not simply a dispute over pay. Rather, it is regarding job security, the increasing threat of redundancies, and increasing ‘casualisation’ of University staff- shifting from permanent contracts to insecure temporary ones.
The University aims to cut £140m of its expenditure, £90m of which will come from staffing cuts: an estimated 1,400-2,000 job losses on the horizon. This comes despite the fact that the University is not in a financial deficit.
In February, Peter Mathieson, Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University, told The Student: “The reality is, the staff of the university has grown by about two and a half thousand in the last three or four years,” which “we had to put a stop to because we couldn’t afford it […] we’re now facing the reality that in order to make ourselves sustainable again, we do need to reduce our expenditure.”
Nonetheless, the UCUE’s criticism is that the University is making savings where it doesn’t need to, and is implementing severe methods which harm staff and limit choices for students.
Speaking with The Student, first year students expressed feeling concerned about the industrial action, which will kick off in their second ever week of university.
Thea, who is in her first year studying politics, said that she first heard about the industrial dispute in Edinburgh in the summer of 2025, at an open day, and it did not put her off wanting to attend the University. However, she described the present situation as “stressful, given that I have lots of things to juggle right now […] this feels like one more thing to think about.”
Thea’s striking lecturers had encouraged her not to go to her other classes, so as not to “cross the picket line” — she felt that, despite supporting the strikes, “deciding whether to go to lectures and find people on my course and learn the content, or take a stand and avoid the picket lines, is quite an intense choice.”
Naina, who studies History and French and is also in her first year, said that the strikes were “frustrating, as I feel like I’ve been thrown in the deep end. Resources haven’t really been uploaded for tutorials either, which is completely valid due to strikes — but those whose tutors aren’t striking will still have assignments, resources and regular tutorials.”
The UCUE have expressed that striking is not something which they take lightly, stating that: “UCU members are very excited to meet students and work with them, but as we always say — staff working conditions are student working conditions.”
“For the students returning this September, if they note that class sizes have increased and staff sadly have less time to spend with them, this is because of management cuts. We in UCU are doing our absolute best, including being ready to take strike action to defend education for both students and staff.”
Students in fourth year shared similar concerns to that of first years, and were particularly stressed about the industrial action affecting their degree classification. Abi, a final year history student, told of how she had been told that “as of yet there is no provision for your end-of-semester coursework, but you will most likely find it harder to complete with up to five weeks of lessons missing.”
They were told, she said, that “mitigations can only come from [senior leadership],” particularly in the case of coursework. Nonetheless, an email from the University to students last week stated that: “we will seek to support you as best as we can in these circumstances.”
Another fourth-year history student, Charlotte, said: “We’ve had quite a lot of strikes throughout our time at university, and there’s a very clear list of problems. We always get emails from the University stating that they hope to put an end to the disruption on our learning, but how is redundancy the solution to that?”
A statement from Peter Mathieson read: “While we recognise the right our staff have to take this action, we will continue to do everything we can to mitigate the impacts of that action on our students. In addition, we remain firmly committed to constructive and transparent engagement with our joint unions. To maintain the University’s position as a world-class institution with a vital role in Scotland’s economic and civic life, we must take responsible, sometimes difficult, decisions to secure its future.”
The mood on campus seems to be one of solidarity — every student I spoke to agreed that they supported the strikes and felt that senior management should be held to account. A Student-Staff Solidarity meeting on Thursday (24 September) had to use an overflow lecture theatre due to demand, and they livestreamed the event from one lecture theatre into another. The feeling of annoyance at the University’s senior management was palpable in the room(s), as hundreds of students applauded and cheered union representatives and student activists who spoke at the event.
Nonetheless, there is a clear feeling of frustration about the cancelled classes. As the strike gets underway, it remains to be seen whether negotiations will make any headway, or whether the slashing of jobs and courses — and a lot of time off for students — is here to stay.
Image by Cordelia Murray-Brown for The Student.
