Update on local ballot in relation to strike action
The University of Exeter branch of the University and College Union (UCU) recently conducted a ballot asking members whether they would be willing to take local strike action in response to a formal consultation on potential staffing changes in some areas of our academic faculties.
The ballot closed on Wednesday 9 September, and the result shows that the majority of members who voted supported taking strike action and action short of a strike.
The Exeter UCU will provide the University with 10 days' notice before any strike action begins. We will keep colleagues and students updated and share further information as soon as it becomes available.
We appreciate this may be an unsettling time and are continuing to work closely with representatives from across the University, and the Students’ Guild and the Student’s Union, to identify how we can manage the impact of any potential strike action.
We can assure you that the University will be open throughout any period of industrial action. Providing our students with an excellent educational experience is one of our top priorities.
If you feel you need some additional support during this time, please do not hesitate to contact our Wellbeing team. You can reach them here if you are studying in Exeter and here if you are studying in Cornwall. The Exeter Students’ Guild and Students’ Union, the recognised representative bodies for students, also provide free, independent and confidential advice through their advice teams.
Like many universities across the UK, we are facing financial pressures due to long-term reductions in government funding, the falling real-terms value of tuition fees, and reduced international demand for UK degrees.
Over the past three years, we have taken significant action to control costs and maintain the University’s financial strength. While these measures have helped us continue to invest in delivering an excellent student experience and support new opportunities, the pressures facing both the sector and the University are set to continue.
In June, after carefully reviewing the size and shape of parts of the University, we opened a formal consultation on proposed changes to staffing across some areas of our academic faculties to better align activities with student demand, research excellence, income growth and long-term financial sustainability.
The consultation concluded in early September. Following feedback from affected staff and Trade Unions, together with voluntary arrangements agreed by some staff, the University achieved nearly all of the required savings, and on this basis, there were no compulsory redundancies in any area where changes were proposed.
No, the University will remain open during any strike days and will have services and support available. We do not anticipate widespread disruption to take place across the University.
We have more than 7,000 colleagues working here. UCU have notified us that they have 1,270 members at the University which equates to around 18% of University staff. Not all members may choose to take part in any industrial action. For data protection reasons, we do not hold a log of union members but we do have an indication of which faculties and professional services members are grouped in.
Although we do not anticipate widespread disruption to take place across the University, we do know that some students will be more greatly impacted than others. Supporting your education or progress in your research degree and helping you reach your goals at the University remains our highest priority. We are continuing to work closely with colleagues across the University, the Students' Guild and Students' Union to minimise disruption and protect your academic outcomes. We are asking University and College Union (UCU) members to let us know if they intend to participate in industrial action so that we can take steps to minimise disruption in the areas which will be affected.
If staff are striking, it means they are removing their labour for the day(s) they are on strike. This means striking colleagues will not come to work as usual, which may result in some teaching activity being cancelled. It may also mean you do not receive a response to any questions you ask (i.e. via email) until striking colleagues have returned to work.
Staff who are on strike may also choose to participate in peaceful picketing. The pickets tend to be organised at the main entrances to the University campuses; however, all colleagues, students and visitors to the University campuses will be able to come onto campus as normal.
If staff are participating in action short of a strike, it means they will come to work on their usual working days but may not carry out all their regular duties. Staff participating in action short of a strike will carry out their scheduled teaching activities, but you may experience a delay in receiving feedback on your assessments.
On any strike days staff who are on strike may also choose to participate in peaceful picketing. The pickets tend to be organised at the main entrances to the University campuses; however, all colleagues, students and visitors to the University campuses will be able to come onto campus as normal, and there are walking routes that avoid the picket lines.
Not all academic colleagues will participate in strike action. We would therefore ask you to continue to attend your timetabled sessions, and if you are required to check in (e.g., if you are an international student) please do. Where we receive notification ahead of time that your session will not go ahead, we will remove it from your timetable. If your lectures are cancelled, which prevents you from checking in, continue to attend and check in to your other lectures. If you have no other sessions to attend that week, please contact us using SID online. You should therefore check your timetable regularly during this period. Information on how to access your timetable is available online.
Staff do not have to let us know if they are taking strike action, so we will not always be able to provide you with an update. In consideration of the support for our students learning, we will be asking any Exeter UCU members who participate in the strike to provide teaching content to their students in an alternative format (digitally via ELE, recap, podcasts, directed reading material etc) within two weeks of their return to work, so we would ask you to please check ELE for any messages /content that has been posted.
The University monitors the attendance of student visa holders, as required by the Home Office.
We ask you to continue to attend your timetabled sessions. Where we receive notification ahead of time that your session will not go ahead, we will remove it from your timetable. If your lectures are cancelled, which prevents you from checking in, continue to attend and check in to your other lectures. If you have no other sessions to attend that week, please contact us using SID online.
You should check your timetable regularly during this period. Information on how to access your timetable is available online.
Please continue to submit your assignments by their due dates, including attending in-person assessments (e.g. presentations) and any exams, unless you are contacted by your department /Info Point.
All departments have considered the implications of strike activity on assessment deadlines and have established positions that aim to be fair and preserve the student experience, which remains of paramount importance. Departments will communicate any immediate changes to their assessment before the strike commences. Further changes may be made at a later date if it becomes clear that students’ ability to complete an assessment has been affected by strike action. You are advised to contact your Student Info Point if you have any queries.
If you have a PGR viva scheduled on a strike day and the PGR Administration Team has been notified, we will contact you directly if there are any changes to your arrangements. Please do look out for emails from PGRadmin@exeter.ac.uk.
This will depend on the nature of your enquiry. You can contact your Departmental Pastoral Mentor or Education Welfare Team. If you need to ask an academic query and your tutor is on strike, you may not receive an answer until after the industrial action period. You can also access study skills support through the Study Zone, which includes online resources.
If you have wellbeing concerns, then you can find the full range of support available for PGRs on the PGR Health and Wellbeing pages. This includes our Education Welfare Team, who can be contacted via welfare.PGR@exeter.ac.uk. If you have a query about your studies and your supervisor is on strike, you may not receive an answer until they return to work, however, you may wish to contact your PGR Support Team, who will be able to help you.
At the present time, the University is not considering any form of reduction in fees or compensation as the extent of the industrial action is still unknown. We are working on ways to potentially mitigate the impact on students and we are working hard to ensure that students suffer no detriment as a result of any impact that may be incurred. For example, if teaching activity is cancelled we will ask academic colleagues to replace the teaching content by another means (digital, ELE, recap recording, reading materials etc) within two weeks after they return to work.
The University will be keeping records of the industrial action to enable us to mitigate the impact on students. We are focusing our efforts on mitigation and reducing impact but are aware compensation may be necessary for a limited number of students once the full individual impact is known.
We will endeavour to keep colleagues and students informed via email and staff and student newsletters and on these webpages.
The University and College Union (UCU) is the recognised trade union representing many staff – particularly academic staff - working in UK higher education institutions. Its role is to represent members on matters such as pay, working conditions and employment-related issues. Engagement between universities and trade unions, including consultation and negotiation, is a lawful and well-established part of UK employment relations, and trade union activity is conducted within recognised legal and institutional frameworks. At the University of Exeter, we engage regularly with the local Exeter UCU branch on these issues within our local context; additionally, we engage nationally through the University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) who represent the University in discussion and negotiations with the national union. Our priority for students will remain the delivery of teaching, learning and student support.
We will keep you informed by email and in University Updates as the situation progresses and will add information to this webpage; however, should you have any immediate concerns or queries, please do email industrialaction@exeter.ac.uk, and we will respond as soon as we can.