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Not too much of an exaggeration to say that Alistair Jarvis' piece in the Guardian today was one of the most disingenuous and disgusting pieces I have read re: UK universities. @USSbriefs
Make no mistake, this is a case of university managers using a crisis to make huge structural reforms that many of them have been dreaming about for years.
Dressing this up as a sensible and progressive plan to 'upskill' the economy (both local and national) and strengthen public services going forward is particularly nauseous.
In the short term, this is also about frightening staff into climbing down in the ongoing USS pensions dispute.
It is about making those on secure contracts too afraid of their own position to speak out in support of the masses of precarious and casualised staff who are about to be cast into unemployment.
No recognition at all here that the rapid marketisation of the sector, the fetishisation of 'competition' instead of cooperation, rampant growth of senior management positions (and salaries), endless construction of vanity buildings, etc, have left UK unis particularly vulnerable
As with society at large, the coronavirus crisis places us at a crossroads. UKHE could move to a more cooperative model, unburden students from debt and a sense that their education is solely a personal good, and trust professionalism of academics to teach and research...
Or we could go for more of the same.
