Congress motions

Motion

Motion title

Faculty restructuring

Session

2010-2011

Meeting link

HE conference

Meeting date

28 May 2011

Status

Passed

Motion

HE15

Motion text

The conference notes that:

Restructuring in higher education institutions is driven by the implementation of business models in the management of academic life.

It is being used to redefine employment terms and conditions including role profiles in order to reduce operational costs and to introduce monetary principles in the evaluation of academic performance. It has institutionalised the separation between research and education.

The conference instructs the HEC to identify and publicise the institutions where such processes are taking place and to coordinate action:

the protection of research and education areas that are being affected by government cuts and university management decisions through restructuring or closures
to undertake systematic surveys of:

local compliance with nationally agreed role profiles across the HE sector; and
the status of local agreements covering such things as roles profiles, employment security and pay protection
to campaign for the defence of national and local agreements
for the protection of employment terms and conditions including conditions regarding redeployment of staff (salaries, grades and jobs)
for the resisting of management attempts to single out fixed term contract staff for redundancy or to present the end of a fixed term contract as a form of natural wastage
for the defence of academic role profiles based on the JNCHES 2004 Framework Agreement and against the introduction of monetary performance criteria
that groups together affected UCU branches so that such action unites them in simultaneous action to defend agreements.

Proposing body

University of Liverpool

Amended

Yes

Allocated to

Higher education committee (HEC)

Notes