The idea of this course was generated by students and staff during the 2018 strike action, which created unusual and exciting solidarities.
In 2018, the Universities and College Union (UCU), which is the largest trade union for academic staff and some support staff in British universities, called for a 14 day long strike, following the failure of negotiations between Universities UK (UUK) and UCU regarding a crucial change to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the main pension scheme for most British academics. For some people, this change could cause loss of up to 40% of their pension. A set of papers written by staff and students which unpacks the complexity of this pension dispute and demonstrates that the proposed change was completely unjustified is available here.
The strike started in the last week of February and was supported enthusiastically by UCU members of all levels, from young academics working on precarious contracts to professors. Students were extremely supportive across the UK. They produced statements, organised events, discussions and direct action, but most importantly occupied University buildings, sometimes over very long periods of time. In Edinburgh, about 50 students occupied the Gordon Aikman lecture theatre in George Square in the morning of 13 March. The building was released on 24 April.
During these six weeks, this lecture theatre was transformed to a hub of radical education. Dozens of educational events were organised and run through collaborations between striking staff and students, as well as through purely student-led initiatives. Although this occupation started as an act of solidarity with the striking staff, students in Edinburgh soon became aware that changes to pension schemes are directly connected to the growing commercialisation of British Universities, which is the cause of increasingly higher fees for students as well as the decreasing stability of working conditions for university staff. These students felt that there was an urgent need to democratize higher education at all levels and wanted to show how this might look like. The result was amazing, and one of the most enriching life experiences one could hope for. Both staff and students learnt so much and fully confirmed that radical education is both feasible and extremely valuable. A website created during that period captures some aspects of that experience.
We wanted to take this legacy forward in some way, and prepared a course driven by the methods and values of that successful experiment, which ran for the first time in 2018-19. We are thrilled to continue to offer this course to new student groups in the coming years and develop our radical model further.
