Might just… spend some time here today.

#UKHE

It could be that remaining internationally competitive at research requires access to Frontier #AI and millions of dollars in tokens. Can this access be provided via a shared national compute resource? In the UK, it seems unlikely #STFC could foot the bill given their current budget cutbacks. #UKHE

The ability to end these disruptive strikes lies in the hands of @uniofnottingham.bsky.social managers. The staff on strike are trying to save the university and the education of current and future students. #UCU #UKHE

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"If ownership and control matter because they determine whether wealth remains connected to a place or can be extracted from it, ministers need an account of why that reasoning applies to water, energy and transport but not to universities."

#HigherEd
#UKHE

wonkhe.com/blogs/whose-...

This is not a pro- or anti-#AI point. There is clearly a tension between maximising research outputs as measured in papers and grants, and investing time in training a new generation of mathematicians. Universities, research councils, and their KPIs will also influence our choices. #REF2029 #UKHE

the first UCU Brief on the failing HE funding model, authored by UCU VP @markpendleton.bsky.social, is out! This is exactly the sort of evidence and analysis we need to get in front of MPs and policymakers #UCU #UKHE

educationitsours.org.uk/ucu-briefs/

I worry that universities view the cost of providing access to an #LLM rather like an institutional subscription to Microsoft Office. They are unwittingly entering an arms race that only those organisations with very deep pockets can survive. #UKHE #MathSky

I’m old enough to remember when you could walk into a lab, throw a schedule and a few handouts around and start lecturing.

Now it is a major software engineering project every year to create the #blackboard VLE.

#scaffolding #UKHE

#AI “triaging” of UKRI grants. Yikes. I completely appreciate the struggle they have finding timely reviewers, but surely there’s a better way than this? #UKHE

“as public funding for universities falls, there is a real danger that billionaire and corporate money begins to shape academia” (Prof Lyla Mehta, Head of the climate, environment and sustainability department at the University of Sussex)

#HigherEd
#UKHE

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Good funding opportunity here via @migrantfutures.bsky.social. Grants up to £20k available for artists, photographers, filmmakers, and migrants’ organisations to explore how images can reshape public feelings about migration…

Timely and urgent!

#ukhe #culturalfunding

sites.gold.ac.uk/mfi-news/

coming in 19th in an overall UK ranking - finally, we are winning in something!

Read the full article here: thetab.com/2026/09/08/t...

#UKHE

Another one of our brilliant newsletters! Maddie Moore's election to NEC via a casual vacancy is a particular highlight. #UCU #UKHE

Newsletter #27! Feat:

- Maddie Moore NEC election
- New equality standing committee nom process
- Trans inclusion webinar
- Climate committee annual meeting
- 'Thinner universities'
- BA/Science Minister saga
- Open letter for LGBTQ+ activists in Türkiye

#UCU #UKHE

ucucommons.org/ucu-commons-...

“If the crisis is caused by the funding model, why are workers only fighting its consequences?”

The #UKHE permacrisis needs a national response.

tribunemag.co.uk/2026/09/brit...

Amazing result! Congratulations Maddie! #UCU #UKHE

We are delighted that our member Madeleine Moore has been elected to a casual vacancy as UK-wide rep (HE) to UCU's NEC. Her term starts right now and will last until the end of Congress 2027, and her first engagement will be the HEC on 9 October. Well done Maddie! #UCU #UKHE