Here @jburnmurdoch argues that the economic benefit of going to University is all about the economy, not about the education provided by the University

https://www.ft.com/content/649d3c64-b8e5-4979-9f0c-9aebd43642e2

"the graduate earnings premium — and graduate salaries more broadly — are not really telling us about the innate value of studying a particular subject at a particular institution. Instead, they are telling us about the value of those qualifications in a particular economy at a particular point in time."

#UKHE

20% of staff at the University of Essex, including 40% of its Maths, Stats and Actuarial Science School are being laid off. Please, sign this petition to stop it and share widely.

https://www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/save-essex-stop-the-cuts-save-southend-protect-education?source=web_share_api&utm_source=web_share_api&share=b7f8f290-a056-4fd8-a1ea-ffbaf760e75a

#essex #maths #math #UKHE #ukpol #ukpolitics #workers #union #ucu #ucuessex #essexucu #southend #colchester #labour #uklabour #highereducation #mathematics #stats #statistics #ukhighereducation #classstruggle #strike #strike #ucurising #ucustrikes #bbc #solidarity

400 jobs at risk. A campus set to close.

This film explains what’s happening at the University of Essex and why staff, students and the local community are organising to stop it.

📍 Southend rally | 5 February

Post by @ucu.org.uk — Bluesky

https://bsky.app/profile/ucu.org.uk/post/3mddjtzb6nc2c

#southend #ucu #essex #colchester #ukpol #ukpolitics #labour #Starmer #UKHE #nhs

"Why are two-thirds of students working? Why is attendance becoming so hard to secure? Why are mental health problems rocketing? Why are more and more students choosing to live at home, restricting their subject and institution choices? Why is youth despair at record levels?"

Jim Dickinson has some answers on Wonkhe:

https://wonkhe.com/blogs/graduates-are-paying-more-and-getting-less/

#UKHE #Debt #StudentLoan

HSE investigation concludes that the University of Birmingham doesn't have appropriate arrangements in place to manage workplace stress and was unable to demonstrate that it can manage the risks associated with excessive workload.

I'm left wondering how unique Birmingham is and how other Universities would fare in a similar investigation.

(sorry for paywalled link)

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/birmingham-reprimanded-over-its-management-work-related-stress

#AcademicCatter #UKHE

The UK HE financial crisis continues to bite down hard. I can see that Uni of Essex still employed "more than 2,644 academic, research, senior support and general support staff", so they are now experiencing what places like London Met have had to do for at least a decade. Many, many good people have lost jobs. Some have kept jobs when frankly they should not have. The game of academic FTE is really terrible imho.

#academia #academicchatter #UKHE #uk
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7vmnq0j393o

Top 20 UK unis in most debt.
Coventry £60m
Middx £24m
Sheffield Hallam £16m

#academia #academicchatter #debt #UKHE

https://thetab.com/2025/11/20/revealed-the-20-uk-universities-in-the-most-financial-trouble-based-on-their-awful-deficits

Petition request, if you can. Kiddo started a Drama degree at #UALCSM in September, and their main teaching space, the Platform Theatre, is at risk. It seems that senior management have decided to get rid of the Theatre space, without notifying the incoming students.

Risky move, of course in #UKHE environment, but maybe wider attention will help them rethink. https://www.change.org/p/save-the-platform-theatre

Does anyone in #UKHE have any tips for reading Aria "opportunity space" briefings? I've read a few and just find them very hard to know how to engage with

#AcademicChatter #ResearchFunding