University strikes: Students react as staff walk out

Students backing a three-day strike by university staff have said their lecturers deserve better pay, working conditions and pensions.

The union organising walkouts at 58 universities has warned of further strikes next year.

Employers have called the strikes "frustrating" and said most staff do not support them.

But some students are concerned about further disruption to their education after 18 months of Covid restrictions.

Outside University College London, first-year student Rebecca Gaida said she supported the strikes - but was concerned there would be more to come.

"How much is three days going to disrupt my education? If they're at this point where things are so bad they feel they need to do this, then fair enough," she said.

"The more I hear about it, the more I hear that it's potentially a long-term thing.

"It worries me a little bit, but... they need pensions, they need stable income."

Some of the walkouts are over pensions - a dispute that, having rumbled on for nearly a decade, has been reignited by what the University and College Union (UCU) called a "flawed valuation" of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), a pension fund used by university staff.

It was "carried out at the start of the pandemic when global markets were crashing", and would lower members' guaranteed retirement income by 35%, the UCU said - although Universities UK (UUK) said that figure was not representative.

Others are striking over pay and working conditions.

The UCU has demanded a £2,500 pay increase for members, an end to "pay injustice" and zero-hours contracts, and action to tackle "unmanageable workloads" - some of which relate to the pandemic.

Staff at 33 institutions are taking action over pay, working conditions and pensions.

University College London student Arj Bhalla said he understood "students' frustrations with Covid and everything that's happened - all our of studies have been disrupted".

"At the same time, it's about the livelihoods of people... I stand in solidarity with it."

However, about 200 miles away in Leeds, 19-year-old history student Tom Horn told BBC News that many students were "very angry".

"They just don't think it's fair that after having a year of strikes followed by a year-and-a-half of online learning... things are just about starting to get back into the swing and then we're facing the possibility of months of strikes again," he said.

Joining those on strike outside the university, UCU president Vicky Blake told the BBC that staff were "exhausted".

"We want to be teaching, we want to be supporting students. But we're here because we need to make progress on all of these issues, so that our working conditions are healthy learning conditions for students," she said.

Declan Kenny, a PhD student who also teaches there, said low research funding and being paid hourly meant he was always "treading water" financially.

"I know most people are completely distracted from their research and find they don't have time to do their PhD, because they're always trying to find the work and income to actually pay their rent," he said.

Students pay £9,250 a year in fees and have faced two years of disruption because of previous strikes and Covid.

But according to Larissa Kennedy, president of the National Union of Students, 73% of students back the strikes.

Speaking to BBC News outside King's College London, she said: "We know that we don't win a better education system - we don't win a fairer education system - divided. We have to collectively fight for fully funded education."

She said students were "frustrated" with management, adding: "If senior managers came back to the negotiating table fairly, if they complied with the demands of the UCU, we wouldn't be facing this disruption."

Oxford Brookes University vice-chancellor Prof Alistair Fitt said he was "really disappointed" about the strikes.

"I think our poor students have had enough over the past 18 months," he said.

Prof Fitt said the USS pension scheme was "very generous", although "too expensive" for many academics.

"One of the things we're committed to doing is to try and make USS a little bit more flexible, and to try to give particularly young academics and young university staff a range of options," he said.

It is the job of pension schemes to crystal-gaze into the future.

They have to predict what inflation, interest rates and investment returns will be decades in advance, and decide if they can deliver on the financial promises they have made to their members.

But the body in charge of this pension, the USS, has been much more cautious about its predictions than other pension schemes.

Predicting a very big difference between the money staff and institutions have paid in and what members are expecting to be paid, it has opted to change the scheme and make members pay more.

Unions say this extra burden on members is unnecessary - the USS is being too pessimistic.

But the USS says it is better to be overly cautious now, than for members to have a nasty shock in years ahead if their pensions cannot be paid out.

Pension rows with private companies normally focus on the company making big profits while not contributing enough to the pension scheme - but university finances are different, making this row unique.

Both sides claim to have the interests of university staff at heart, which has resulted in this long-running row now reaching the picket lines.

Striking staff are not required to warn universities in advance, but some students were advised this week to ask their lecturers whether they would be walking out.

The UCU said "thousands" of staff and students participated on Wednesday - and warned of "escalating industrial action" next year if demands were not met.

However, Raj Jethwa, chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, which has 174 member organisations, said early reports indicated "low levels of disruption to teaching".

But he said it would "take time" to establish the full picture.

Mr Jethwa called the strikes over pay an "unrealistic attempt to try to force" 146 employers to reopen a concluded national pay round.

A spokesman for Universities UK, which represents 140 institutions, said fewer than 10% of pension-scheme members had voted for strike action in UCU ballots last month. Not all staff are UCU members, and not all members supported the strikes.

Universities Minister Michelle Donelan called the strikes "very disappointing" and further disruption to students' learning "wholly unfair".

"Students deserve good quality face-to-face teaching from their universities, and we need a resolution that delivers this for them as soon as possible," she said.

"It's what the vast majority of teaching staff want - and what students rightly expect."

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the Office for Students, said universities could consider "whether partial refunds of tuition fees are appropriate" to make up for disruption.

Rescheduling teaching or finding alternative teaching methods were other options, she said.

Staff at 74 universities held a 14-day strike over pensions, pay, and conditions last year.

The UCU has said members would "be forced to take further industrial action in the new year" if vice-chancellors "continue to ignore the modest demands of staff".

A full list of affected universities can be found here.

In addition to the 58 where staff are striking, a further six institutions will not have strikes but staff voted for action short of a strike, over pay, which, the UCU said, would "include strictly working to contract and refusing any additional duties".