UCU: For higher education (HE) funding based on its real needs

Motion

Motion text: HESC notes
1. The marketisation of HE has led to its degradation, staff redundancies,
increased student fees and workload intensification.
2. Numerous branches are fighting back those redundancies.
HESC believes
a. The current situation is a direct and natural result of marketisation, enacted
by a series of governments, Labour, Tory, and Coalition.
b. The current funding model of HE is fit for profit-making businesses and not
for institutions serving society.
c. HE funding needs to be guided by the needs of HE employees, students, and
society at large, not the constraints of marketisation and profit.
d. Alternative funding models within the parameters of marketisation will not
serve those needs.
e. 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.