Universities have cancelled over 5,000 degree courses because of Government cuts and the rise in tuition fees, it has been claimed.

A study by Supporting Professionalism in Admissions (SPA), a service for admissions tutors, claims there will be a 12 per cent drop in the number of courses provided next year compared to 2011, The Independent reports.  The research suggests that many universities are cutting courses that have been deemed ‘too expensive’ or ‘not good enough’.

SPA says 38,147 courses will be offered by the University and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) in 2012, down from 43,360 this year. A spokesman said the cuts were “a possible reflection of the systematic review of course provision by some higher education institutions”.

A University and College Union (UCU) spokesman said: “It’ll be a real tragedy if [students living at home to reduce costs] find cuts at their local university mean they can no longer study the subject they have always wanted.”

Universities and Science Minister David Willetts defended the Government’s decision earlier this year, he said: ”The intent of our higher education reforms are clear: we are putting students at the heart of the system with a financing system that is fairer and affordable for the nation. While we expect universities to offer good value for money, students will have the information to decide what course and institution is right for them. Institutions will have to work much harder to attract students and be explicit about the quality of their teaching and the type of experience they offer.”

For the latest education news and information, why not sign up to our e-newsletter or RSS Feed?

by Victoria Bamber

Described by the unions as ‘the biggest walkout of the generation’, the public sector pension strikes involved up to two million public sector workers, including members from the University and College Union (UCU), Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and National Union of Teachers (NUT).

Recourse monitored the action in London to find out more.

A group of lecturers from Tower Hamlet Colleges said: “If you have the same thinking and the same attitude, you get into the same recession. You need education to get out of recession, the cuts are unnecessary.”

One member from ATL told us: “I’ve been having sleepless nights and was feeling anxious and stressed over the Government’s decisions.”

An NUT teacher told us: “I’m 62 and it doesn’t affect me, but can you imagine me teaching a class of 31 ten year olds? They wouldn’t get the best out of me.”

Talkign about the strikes, UCU General Secretary, Sally Hunt commented: “Despite b.eing possibly the only minister to have stood on a picket line, Michael Gove is still symptomatic of this Government’s complete lack of understanding of trade unions and working people.  Educators are far from mindless militants and to suggest they want to inconvenience anybody is incredibly insulting. They would rather be in the classroom than on the picket line tomorrow, but they will fight to save their pensions. They want proper negotiations to secure a resolution to the dispute and it is time for the government to deliver.”

“Strike action will always be, quite rightly, a last resort and for Michael Gove or anyone in Government to suggest otherwise exposes the contempt with which they hold hard-working public servants.”

Despite the response from the unions and their members, Prime Minister David Cameron described the protest as a ‘damp squib strike’. He commented: “The reason people are going on strike is because they object to the reforms we are making to public sector pensions. I believe those reforms are absolutely essential and as the former Labour Pension Secretary Lord Hutton said…”It is hard to imagine a better deal than this.”

Home Secretary Theresa May told the BBC she recognises people are concerned about pensions but that the Government has made a ‘generous’ offer and going ahead with the strike is ‘irresponsible’.

For the latest news on the pension strikes, follow us on Twitter @RecourseCharity.

by Victoria Bamber

More than a fifth of England’s universities have applied to change their fee packages, just weeks before the application deadline.

The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) said 27 of England’s universities had sought to lower fees to make use of new measures that could allow them to expand, BBC News reports.

Universities were required to submit their plans for higher charges, bursaries and fee-waivers for certain groups of students in April, before the Government published its proposals in the Higher Education White Paper.

The plans included allowing universities to charge less than £7,500 a year in fees to expand by bidding for 20,000 new places.

This change was widely seen as a last-minute measure to bring down the cost of tuition fees, after more universities than expected planned to charge the maximum amount.

Many of the universities seeking to change their tuition fees have blamed the Government and the late announcement of the Higher Education White Paper.

Vice-chancellor of West London University Professor Peter John said the university had decided to lower its fees slightly from £7,498 to £7,400 after the mechanism for calculating average fees was changed.

“The delayed publication in June of the Government’s White Paper then shifted the goal posts [of student number controls].”

He also said the fact that a number of policy changes came quite late had added ‘much uncertainty to applications in an already uncertain environment’. “The Government haven’t helped in their message, they have not been clear and there is a lot of concern and anxiety, some students still believe they are going to pay fees up front,” he added.

The General Secretary of the UCU, Sally Hunt, commented: “Leaving universities and students to scramble around trying to save a few quid here and there is no way to run a world-class university sector. The Government’s decision to move the goalposts on fee levels after it got its sums wrong exposes the mess it has made of university funding.”

Labour’s Shadow Higher Education Minister Shabana Mahmood said: “It is unbelievable that students have had to apply for courses before knowing how much they will pay in fees.  The Government’s rushed and haphazard cuts to higher education budgets go too far, too fast, with universities unable to plan ahead and frustrated students without the full information to help them apply.”

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesman defended the recent changes, commenting: “We are putting students at the heart of the system, with a diverse range of providers offering high-quality teaching. The Director of Fair Access has made it clear that students need to come first and anyone who has already applied should not be disadvantaged by any changes. Institutions are expected to contact any affected students to explain any changes.”

For the latest education news and information, sign up to our free e-newsletter or RSS Feed.

by Victoria Bamber

Many lecturers who are ‘working to contract’ over changes to their pensions are finding that their work-life balance has been restored, says a union.

Since 10 October, over 400,000 members of the University and College Union (UCU) have only been working their contracted hours in a dispute over changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), The Guardian reports.

“I’ve just been inundated,” says Sally Hunt, UCU’s General Secretary. “People are saying that for the first time in years they’ve been able to have some kind of normal life. It’s clear it has become very normalised for people to work 50-plus hours in a week, doing evening and weekend work. We’ve got very committed staff who are struggling to fulfil their research commitments alongside admin and teaching, and that will only get worse with the pressures they’re having to deal with.”

Yet, overall, the majority of lecturers are reporting that they are still stressed by their workload.

A 2010 study by the UCU found that 89 per cent of lecturers have been neglecting tasks because they have too much to cope with. In addition, 81 per cent say they find the job stressful, whilst 66 per cent say they are unable to take breaks. Only 24 per cent of lecturers working at UK universities say they aren’t pressured to work long hours, The Press Association reports.

Sally Hunt said; “It is not acceptable that four-fifths of university staff find their jobs stressful or that only half can say they’ve never been bullied at work. Universities are getting a reputation as stressful places to work and this report reveals that the problem is getting worse. We hope institutions will engage with UCU branches during our stress week with a view to tackling the issues raised in the report.”

We know that workload is a major cause of concern. 96 per cent of lecturers, teachers and school leaders who responded to a Recourse and Teacher Support Network poll say their workload has had a negative effect on their health and wellbeing. Symptoms described included increased alcohol consumption, lack of sleep, relationship problems, overeating, under eating, stress, anxiety, exhaustion, low self-esteem and in some cases thoughts of suicide.

One respondent told Recourse: “A ‘healthy’ work-life balance is very difficult to achieve. When I should have time/energy for exercise, I have too many demands from the job to fit this in effectively. Taking time out for illness is problematic as the burden falls on colleagues. As such, there are times when I am in college, when I shouldn’t be. I only take a couple of days sick leave on average per year so constant tiredness results.”

Another member of staff working in FE commented: “I wake up at midnight most nights and often work through my college holidays. I feel like I have no support from management, even though I ask and have been victimised in the past for ‘not being able to cope’. The workload is ridiculous and I wouldn’t wish it upon anybody.”

If you would like to talk to someone to find out how best to manage your workload, call our Support Line on 0808 802 03 04.

Alternatively, try our Work-Life Wizard tool, or visit these factsheets for more information:

• How working extra hours can impact you
• Work-life Balance – what is it and how do I achieve it?
• Assertiveness: your right to say no

by Olivia Bamber

Thousands of lecturers and teachers will descend on parliament today to lobby MPs over pension reforms.

The mass lobby will be the first time in history that all the UK’s major teaching unions have joined together over a single issue.

The Government has proposed to raise the state pension age for education staff  in England and Wales from 65 to 68 and increase pension contributions by half as of 2014. Teachers and lecturers also object to the changes in the way that their pension is calculated.

Seven unions are taking part in the lobby, including the University and College Union (UCU) and the National Union of Teachers (NUT). Members of the unions are said to be presenting a petition, signed by 130,000 lecturers and teachers, to the Department for Education, The Guardian reports.

Members of four education unions have already voted to carry out rolling strikes, including a coordinated strike on 30 November.

This will be the first time the The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) will strike. The National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) is currently balloting its members over strike action, the first ballot in the company’s 114 year history.

“UCU General Secretary, Sally Hunt, said: “We are meeting with MPs today to dispel Government myths about the need for pension reform. Our members are unlikely militants but they will not stand by while their pensions are raided to pay for a crisis they did not create.”

Teachers and lecturers are united in their anger about the coalition Government’s plans to impose unwarranted cuts to their pensions. When over a thousand teachers and lecturers from schools and colleges round the UK are prepared to spend a day of their half-term holiday in London to lobby their MP, it really is time the Government started to take notice.” Dr Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the ATL commented.

Nick Gibb, the Schools Minister, said he wanted to ensure lecturers and teachers had an excellent pension, while also being fair to the taxpayer.

“Teachers have long had access to excellent pensions, which provide a guaranteed income in retirement that is protected against inflation. I am determined that this should continue to be the case. The question now is how best we can secure those objectives, while being fair to the taxpayer. The Government has put forward its proposals, based on Lord Hutton’s report. Our view is that the proposals are a fair deal for teachers, which will ensure their pensions remain among the best available.”

If you are considering strike action, contact your union.

For the latest news regarding the pension strikes, follow these links:

• New pension scheme forces lecturers to strike
• UCU ask members to work only contracted hours
• FE and HE staff vote in favour of action over pensions

For the latest education news, sign up to our free e-newsletter or RSS Feed.

by Victoria Bamber