The Daily Novel

Bournemouth

The splendid from views Bournemouth pier are shrouded in mist this morning and the town is drenched in drizzle. But  inside the conference hall the spirit was upbeat at the first Congress of the University and College Union. The merger was the result of ten years work to bring together the Association of University Teachers, which represented the older universities, and NATFHE which dominated the former polytechnics and the further education sector.  In the last twelve months the brotherly spirit was sometimes ruptured by the infighting which took place in election of the first General Secretary.  Victory went to Sally Hunt, who as the AUT candidate had to win NATFHE votes because they had more members than the AUT.In her speech this morning Hunt focused on the future and ‘the need to build a new union fit for the 21^st century. She said:

We meet in a political and industrial environment as challenging in its way as any faced by our predecessors.

She has no doubt as to who the enemy is and she pulled no punches in describing the effects on academic life.

This government increasingly sees us as instruments of economic policy………and ignores the wider benefits to  society that universities and colleges provide.They intervene in the curriculum in the name of quality.They direct funding towards some and away from others in the so called skills revolution.They choose to protect some subject areas while throwing others to the wolves.There has never been greater government interference in our professional lives than today. And yet while government wishes to increase its control it wishes to do so by contributing progressively less from the public purse.That is why students now pay top up fees in our universities.That is why adult learners are paying progressively more for a second chance.And that is why we face the beginnings of privatisation in both sectors.

She then gave some telling examples of the how the government is shooting itself in the foot.

Take health where community care is prioritized, yet our members, who train our nurses are made redundant to fund NHS deficits.Take science where despite warm words from ministers we are still shutting labs here almost as fast as they are building them in China.And take lifelong learning – at the heart of the government’s agenda so they say – yet the latest cuts have seen a 17 per cent reduction in adult learners last year.On the ground, the reality of government policy for too many of our members is job insecurity, increased casualisation and higher workloads.

She then turned her attention to the need for the union to focus on these educational priorities.

I counted forty five different motions and amendments on our agenda this week which call for campaigns of one kind or another.

To be effective, the union needed to prioritise.  She particularly does not wish the union to be sidetracked by another academic boycott of Israel. Hunt believes that the majority of the membership don’t want it.This afternoon, when the Israel issue is debated, she will find out what the delegates think.