Higher Education after May

Democratic Left Scotland's report from UCU picket lines across Scotland's four cities.

This week saw hundreds of staff take action at Strathclyde University. At the other side of the country UCU members were again out on strike at the University of Aberdeen.  In Edinburgh at Herriot Watt University picket lines were put in place. 

Things are not great in higher education, they have not been for some time. There is a clear Scottish dimension to this. One that is coming to the surface as the Holyrood election rapidly approaches. 

Democratic Left has been following this situation for some time. As if to illustrate the point, in addition to the action at the above institutions, strikers again returned to their familiar spot at the University of Dundee. 

UCU members at Dundee seasoned by their long running dispute have spoken about being the canary in the coal mine. There have historically been restructuring initiatives at various Scottish universities but Dundee has been the consistent contemporary test bed for management-created and exploited crisis. 

Three principals have been called before the Scottish Government’s Education Committee to explain themselves. Court chairs have come and gone. The Scottish Government have provided a ‘bail out’ and hundreds of jobs have been cut, with more scheduled to follow. 

The situation has not simply been one of managed decline, it has been one of disdain for institutional purpose, governance and fair work principles. Against this backdrop of woeful and arrogant management has been the demand from the same management for cash. 

The approach has been at its most acute at Dundee, but will not be unfamiliar to UCU, Unite, Unison and EIS members across other institutions in Scotland. It will not be unfamiliar to students too. 

The over reliance on, and rapid decline in, international students is a factor for many parts of the sector. But it is too simplistic to name this as the only causal factor. Grossly inflated salaries of senior management, outsourcing, and bad financial decisions have contributed in addition. 

Importantly there is a need to consider the appropriate level of funding for higher education in Scotland. A level that should be determined by the cost of quality education that has a clear set of democratically determined societal goals. 

The new government elected to Holyrood post May should play a central role in fashioning this scenario. For that to happen politicians with a clear interest in,  and understanding of, the sector need to be in key positions. They need to listen to campus trade unions, university staff, to students and those with an interest in the future of educationally purposeful higher education. 

The strike this week will not be the last. But in addition to industrial action there is a need to distance higher education from those that would reduce it a limited transactional experience. 

To move in this direction we need to build an alliance to promote a positive vision of what Scottish higher education can become. The absence of tuition fees must only be the start. 

We need democratic institutions and a democratic sector. Listening to the experience of those that have consistently taken strike action over recent years and months would be a good place to start. 

Published 18 March 2026