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Academic Casualization in the UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2018

Steven Parfitt
Steven Parfitt*
Affiliation:
Loughborough University
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Abstract

The casualization of academic work is a deepening problem at UK universities. From the late 1990s, the number of academics working on non-permanent, non-full-time contracts has skyrocketed, even as student fees have increased at an exponential rate. This casualization has generated resistance on the lower rungs of the academic ladder. On the one hand, the union for the higher education sector, the UCU, has tried without much success to stem the tide of casualization. On the other, casual academic staff have tried to organise on their own to resist casualization at a local level.

Type
Report from the Field
Information
International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 93: Workers and Right-Wing Politics , Spring 2018 , pp. 221 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 2018 

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References

NOTES

1. Office for National Statistics, “How Has the Student Population Changed,” 20 September 2016. Available at: http://visual.ons.gov.uk/how-has-the-student-population-changed/ (accessed 12 February 2018).

2. Universities UK, “International Students Now Worth 25 Billion to UK Economy,” 6 March 2017. Available at: http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/news/Pages/International-students-now-worth-25-billion-to-UK-economy---new-research.aspx (accessed 12 February 2018).

3. Higher Education Statistics Agency, “Student Enrolments and Qualifications Obtained at Higher Education Providers in the United Kingdom 2015/16,” 12 January 2017. Available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/12-01-2017/sfr242-student-enrolments-and-qualifications (accessed 12 February 2018).

4. Ibid., 2

5. All the statistics in this section are taken from http://www.hesa.ac.uk (accessed 12 February 2018). In particular, cf. “Table 1—All staff (excluding non-academic atypical) at UK HE providers by academic contract marker, activity standard occupational classification, mode of employment and sex 2013/14 to 2015/16”; and “Table 14—Academic Staff at UK HE Institutions by Location of Institution, Mode of Employment, Clinical Status, Principal Source of Salary, Primary Employment Function, Grade (1) and Gender 1998/99,” in Higher Education Statistics for the United Kingdom, 1998–99. Available at https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/publications/higher-education-1998-99 (accessed 12 February 2018). I should acknowledge here the work of Dr. Lorenzo Costaguta, who compiled these statistics in a paper at the 2017 Labor and Working-Class History Association Conference in Seattle.

6. University and College Union, “Precarious Work in Higher Education: A Snapshot of Insecure Contracts and Institutional Attitudes,” April 2016. Available at: https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/7995/Precarious-work-in-higher-education-a-snapshot-of-insecure-contracts-and-institutional-attitudes-Apr-16/pdf/ucu_precariouscontract_hereport_apr16.pdf (accessed 12 February 2018).

7. “Universities Accused of Importing Sports Direct Model for Lecturers Pay,” The Guardian, 16 November 2016. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/16/universities-accused-of-importing-sports-direct-model-for-lecturers-pay (accessed 12 February 2018).

8. “Nottingham Academic on Casual Contract: I Had More Rights as a Binman,” The Guardian, 16 November 2016. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/16/nottingham-academic-on-casual-contract-i-had-more-rights-as-a-binman (accessed 12 February 2018).

9. “Union of Nottingham UCU,” Response to The Guardian, 23 November 2016. Available at: https://uonucu.org/2016/11/23/the-university-of-nottingham-response-to-the-guardian/ (accessed 12 February 2018).

10. Labor and Working-Class Association, “Contingent Faculty Committee.” Available at: https://www.lawcha.org/committee-portal/contingent-faculty/ (accessed 12 February 2018).