General Meeting to Decide Motions for UCU Congress – Wednesday 12th March 2025
Motions for Congress
Motions for the Higher Education Sector Conference
- Securing financial security and effective governance in higher education
- For Higher Education (HE) funding based on its real needs
- Resisting the Triple Threat: Trump, AI and Marketisation in HE
- Rebuilding the fight over pay and jobs
Amendments
CONGRESS MOTIONS
Congress Motion 1:
Solidarity with Serbian Student Movement
Proposed by Kate Boldry
Congress notes:
The tragic collapse of the Novi Sad railway station canopy in November 2024, which killed 15 people, was linked to corruption and negligence.
Serbian students have led mass protests demanding accountability, democracy, and transparency.
The protests have gained support from workers, including educators, highlighting shared struggles against corruption and austerity.
Congress resolves:
1. To express solidarity with Serbian students and workers fighting for justice and democracy.
2. To call on the UK government and international bodies to support democratic movements in Serbia.
3. To work with education unions globally to amplify Serbian students’ demands.
4. To raise awareness among UCU members about the protests and the broader fight for transparency and workers’ rights in Serbia
Congress Motion 2:
Defend Palestine Solidarity & the Right to Protest
Proposed: Sean Wallis
Congress notes:
- In February, the University of Cambridge failed to secure a preemptive injunction against Palestine solidarity protests, while the University of London obtained a temporary one in November 2024.
- Over 100 staff and students nationally face disciplinary action for pro-Palestine activism.
- On 18 January, police imposed arbitrary restrictions on a peaceful Palestine solidarity rally in Whitehall, leading to 77 arrests and the prosecution of protest organisers.
Congress believes:
- Crackdowns on Palestine solidarity activism—through police repression, legal injunctions, and university disciplinary measures—are part of a wider attack on free expression. Universities and trade unions must resist this suppression.
Congress resolves:
- To condemn legal injunctions and other measures stifling Palestine activism, and to actively resist the crackdown by building a national public campaign with campus unions and relevant stakeholders.
- To donate £1000 to Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s legal fund.
(139 words)
Amendment 1 to Congress Motion 2:
Proposed: Sean Wallis
Change the first sentence in Congress Notes to “University of Cambridge’s application for a 5-year injunction restricting Palestine-related activities near administration buildings; the granting of a similar 1-year order at the request of University of London in November 2024.”?
This adds 3 words in total.
Updated Motion as amended would read:
Motion 2: Defend Palestine Solidarity & the Right to Protest
Proposed: Sean Wallis
Congress notes:
University of Cambridge’s application for a 5-year injunction restricting Palestine-related activities near administration buildings; the granting of a similar 1-year order at the request of University of London in November 2024. Over 100 staff and students nationally face disciplinary action for pro-Palestine activism. On 18 January, police imposed arbitrary restrictions on a peaceful Palestine solidarity rally in Whitehall, leading to 77 arrests and the prosecution of protest organisers.
Congress believes:
Crackdowns on Palestine solidarity activism—through police repression, legal injunctions, and university disciplinary measures—are part of a wider attack on free expression. Universities and trade unions must resist this suppression.
Congress resolves:
To condemn legal injunctions and other measures stifling Palestine activism, and to actively resist the crackdown by building a national public campaign with campus unions and relevant stakeholders. To donate £1000 to Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s legal fund.
(142 words)
HESC MOTIONS
HESC Motion 1:
Securing financial security and effective governance in higher education
Proposed by Tim Causer and Nicola Countouris
HESC Notes:
The most recent TRAC (2022-23) shows a research deficit of c.£4.6bn, i.e. 68% of Full Economic Costs across HEIs. That in the last 12 months university employers have announced plans for over 5,000 redundancies, with a further 5,000 predicted.
HESC Believes:
The crisis engulfing UK HE is the consequence of a deep-seated funding and governance crisis, affecting the UK university model as a whole.
HESC Resolves:
To call the GS to ask the Secretary of State to:
- offer an alternative, sustainable funding model for research and teaching, and ensure that FECs for external grants are 100%-funded
- propose a new model ensuring representation and influence of frontline academics in HEI governing bodies.
- ensure that the Charters and Statutes of HEIs contain clauses requiring prudential and anticyclical management of finances, so that reserves are built to ensure sectoral resilience, staff job security, and students’ right to education.
HESC Motion 2:
For Higher Education (HE) funding based on its real needs
Proposed by Ilektra Christidi
HESC notes
- The marketisation of HE has led to its degradation, staff redundancies, increased student fees and workload intensification.
- Numerous branches are fighting back those redundancies.
HESC believes
- The current situation is a direct and natural result of marketisation, enacted by a series of governments, Labour, Torry, and coalition.
- The current funding model of HE is fit for profit-making businesses and not for institutions serving society.
- HE funding needs to be guided by the needs of HE employees, students, and society at large, not the constraints of marketisation and profit.
- Alternative funding models within the parameters of marketisation will not serve those needs.
- Government relief for failing universities as loans or bail-outs normalises universities as public-private enterprises, and it cannot be the heart of our demands.
HESC calls for fully state-funded HE, funded at the level of real social needs, free and accessible for all. Abolition of all tuition fees.
[10 words title + 150 words body]
HESC Motion 3:
Resisting the Triple Threat: Trump, AI and Marketisation in HE
Proposed: Sean Wallis
HESC notes that
- UK Higher Education faces a major market crisis with OfS predicting 70% of English Universities to run at a loss next year
- UK HE also faces an anti-intellectual threat driven by popular misunderstandings of generative AI and potential impacts on graduate jobs
- These two threats combine with Donald Trump’s second US presidency, promoting ‘anti-woke science’ discourses from politicians, including from Conservative and Reform parties, to create an existential threat to UK HE
HESC believes the question, What is University For? must be central to our defence
HESC resolves to
- Launch a series of UK-wide public debates hosted by UCU branches to debate these questions, inviting politicians and the media
- Call on UK Government to invest in HE and boost critical thinking in all aspects of the curriculum
- Integrate this programme into a fight to defend jobs and course in the sector
(150 words)
HESC Motion 4:
Rebuilding the fight over pay and jobs
Proposed: Sean Wallis
HESC notes the failure by HEC to launch the 2024-25 pay campaign and the urgent need for UK-wide action to defend the sector.
HESC resolves to
- Plan to run the HE pay campaign linked to a political campaign for a fully-funded sector calling for emergency measures to save jobs, courses and the sector.
- Run the IA ballot, HEC meetings etc., on a timeline permitting members to take UK-wide term-time strike action in Term 2.
- Send out detailed briefing notes and organise regional GTVO workshops.
- Call a conference to defend HE promoting and debating UCU’s proposals.
- Consult members on types of action through regional/devolved nations meetings and a branch delegate meeting.
(120 words)