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By Simon Dodd
The prospect of lecturer strikes now seems all to real, after teaching Unions derided a UCEA proposal for a 2.8% pay rise, and staff pay restructuring, as an "insulting offer", that would "anger the profession and worsen the staffing crisis". The Unions had been seeking a rise in the region of 15%.
A joint statement on behalf of the Unions concerned - NATFHE, the AUT and the EIS - called the proposal "totally inadequate and completely unacceptable". Natfhe's general secretary, Paul Mackney, said academics' salaries were now as much as 30% below the market rate:
"The pay of the UK academic community and higher education staff is now amongst the worst within universities in the developed world".
The AUT's general secretary, Sally Hunt, said the offer was "a cruel blow against the legitimate expectations and aspirations of university staff", whom she credited with raising standards and boosting student numbers. On Friday afternoon, the AUT sanctioned strike action to take place later in the year.
Thirty years ago, the vast majority of graduates entered professional occupations, as doctors, lawyers, civil service officers - and lecturers. But the higher salaries on offer in private enterprise and management has made these careers - and lecturing in particular - seem far less attractive to graduates. But it should be obvious that such a situation is unsustainable: education is the engine room of any economy, and the university funding crisis is robbing Britain both of students and educators. University Funding is almost invariably described in terms like "the row over" or as "in meltdown". Suggestions for resolving the problems - which, as with all problems, it seems, boil down simply to money - are touted from all ideological corners. But there are a few points that seem to be clear above all others. If money is not found to increase the wages of lecturing staff, existing staff will be forced out, while new talent will not be recruited. At the other end of the equation, as the burden of making good the funding gap is placed on students, so it becomes as active contributing factor to the dropout rate. As we procrastinate, talent continues to haemorhage at both ends of the equation, and will continue to do so until something drastic is tried. That strikes me not as merely"a row", but as being not far short of catastrophic.
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