But the response to the MAB is above all a sign that the managerial governance model in U.K. universities is totally broken and actively harmful to the sector as a whole.

UCEA on Friday: Marking boycott has “limited impact” Observer today: Over 160,000 final year students are impacted by the boycott. Our members want to get back to doing their jobs. End the spin. End the embarrassing press releases. Get around the table.

Will this be the week that UK VCs stop taking orders from a group of extremists at the heart of UCEA? Who have weaponised it in pursuit of a personal vendetta against the UCU? Nothing about this is looking like rational bargaining. And universities are being ruined as a result.

One of the things that the QUB expulsion from UCEA underscores is that what we call national ‘bargaining’ on pay in UKHE is, in effect, an employers’ cartel systematically suppressing wage growth.

Jo Grady UCEA have sanctioned the complete demolition of academic standards in UK universities - students graduating with incomplete marks, marks awarded by people not qualified to give them, all sanctioned by scab external examiners giving their stamp of approval to ersatz degrees

So, what you're saying is: the people educating future graduates are doing work that is VITAL to this country? Then maybe it's in the public's interest to not leave those vital workers in the hands of a handful of hawkish bosses, & instead ensure they can actually do their job?

The non-newsworthiness of “manager on £450,000pa takes away ONE THIRD of his staff’s annual salary for the crime of speaking out” is quite exhausting. Them doing that is one thing, nobody batting an eye quite another.

I've just updated my UCU MAB maximum deductions sheet with a ranked bar graph. I've only got confirmed info for 19 institutions so far, though. Branch reps: if you want me to add yours, you can reply to this or email MABhassles {at} jbsumner {dot} com. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

Left: PR spin Right: act in reality

At Queen Mary University of London term is starting with staff taking strike action. Why? Because well-paid managers are punishing staff for sticking up for themselves. Read the leaflet below

This is the 3rd time this colleague gets this on their payslip, for withholding 13 scripts. Management threatens 2 more payslips like this. MAB is over, taking this money can't shorten it. This is not proportionate but punitive; not for the sake of students but to punish staff.

Oh dear Tim. I don't think the students are too happy that you've chosen to force a strike in the first week of teaching when you could have very easily chosen not to

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Utrecht University Utrecht University in the Netherlands has withdrawn itself from the World University ranking World University Rankings provided by Times Higher Education. As this has generated quite some reactions - praise, questions, some doubts, I want to provide some context. Hence a thread 🧵1/16

Students of management accounting should direct their attention to the UK university sector right now as it appears that the extremely well paid cadre of vice-chancellors wish to imitate British Leyland's 1970s coat allocation death spiral stunt, but with a woke flavouring.

The future for all of us in Israel-Palestine must be based in Arab-Jewish partnership. There are 7 million Palestinians and 7 million Jews between the river and the sea, and none of us are going anywhere. Our fate is tied and our future is shared.

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I love that we've taken computers - a machine designed exclusively to do math - and taken away the ability to solve gradeschool math problems and all it cost us was the amazon rainforest