SHAKING UP HIGHER ED – TEF’S SILVER LINING

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged academia, academic staff, academics, change, Durham University, education policy, HE Act, HE bill, higher education, Higher Education and Research Act, historical privilege, REF, research, research excellence framework, Save the Student, smaller HE institutions, status quo, teaching, teaching excellence framework, teaching staff, tef, TEF metrics, TEF results, tuition fees, universities, university, university finance, university league tables, University of Huddersfield, university staff.

Late last month, we saw the release of the first batch of Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) results. The TEF has been the subject of significant student opposition, with a Save the Student survey suggesting that as many as 76% of students oppose the implementation of the TEF. I was an opponent of it myself, particularly of links made between TEF scores and the ability of institutions to raise their tuition fees, though this plan has been postponed until 2020.

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REVIVING CAMPUS ACTIVISM – A ROADMAP

Posted on July 6, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged academia, academic culture, academics, access, accessible academia, accountability, alliances, Apartheid, austerity, awareness, awareness raising, British political history, Campaign for Lincoln Democracy, campaign strategy, campaigning, campus culture, co-operation, co-operative university, collective action, communication, Community, culture, curricula, curriculum reform, decision making, democracy, democratic higher education, depoliticised unions, direct action, diversity, economics, economics education, elections, employment rights, escalation, experts, GE17, government, grassroots, higher education, hubris, international organising, investigative journalism, Lincoln SU, Lincoln University, listicles, lobbying, local media, manchester, media, neoliberalism, occupation, organising, petitions, pluralism, politics, Post-Crash Economics Society, postgraduate tutors, Queen's University Belfast Students' Union, Queens' University Belfast, radical media, referendum, Rethinking Economics, senior management, Social Science Centre Lincoln, startup media, strategy, student activism, student democracy, student elections, student experience scores, student life, student media, student societies, students, students' unions, teaching, teaching staff, trade unions, uk, uk politics, universities, university staff, War of Words, Warwick Anti-Casualisation, Warwick University, workers, workers rights, working conditions, WOW 2016, young people, youth turnout.

by Bradley Allsop

We live in turbulent times. The political establishment has been rocked again and again this last year. The government is embattled in a way it hasn’t been for 7 years and that rarest of things in British politics, change, is peeking its head above the parapet. What’s more, for the first time in my lifetime, it seems my generation is willing to be an active participant in all this. June’s election saw the highest rise in youth turnout in British political history – it reached its highest absolute level since 1992. It falls to those of us already engaged to fan this flame and help it spread beyond the ballot box, building the political courage and competencies of our fellows. Nowhere offers a better opportunity for us to do this than on university campuses.

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PRICE HIKES AND RENT STRIKES – SOLVING THE UEA ACCOMMODATION CRISIS

Posted on April 14, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged accommodation, bunk beds, david richardson, direct action, league tables, lobbying, lower income backgrounds, petitions, price hikes, private renting, profit, rent, rent strikes, student accommodation, student activism, student life, student loans, student satisfaction survey, student unions, students, teaching staff, UCL, UCL cut the rent, UEA, UEA Vision 2030, university, university courses, university management, university rankings, zero hour contracts.

Whist chatting to a friend last week I found myself looking at the price of accommodation at UEA for the next academic year. I found that the prices are set to rise yet again, with the price of the most expensive undergraduate accommodation reaching over £5800 a year, or £153.30 per week if you want your shocks in smaller weekly doses rather than one big lump.

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