KU 2022+ – KU UCU first response

Kingston staff have been sent details of KU22+, the university’s “strategic plan for 2022/23 and beyond”. This document contains details of the SMT’s current thinking about the future of Kingston University and it specifies a number of strategic priorities. A number of different working groups have already been formed as part of this strategic plan – as a recognised trade union representing staff, UCU must be included in these working groups.

We have gone through the document in some detail at this point and wanted to draw your attention to a number of significant areas of concern.

On page 11, we note that the plan will be to focus on “eliminating courses ranked in the bottom decile nationally and reducing those ranked in the bottom quartile”. This was surprising to read – UCU has never been consulted on these plans, which have the potential to have a very significant and negative impact on our members. UCU must be consulted as a matter of priority. We are also seeking urgent clarification on what “eliminate” means.

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Kingston Politics Department is under threat!

On 4th March Kingston UCU were told by senior management that undergraduate courses in Politics, International Relations and Human Rights would be closed to new students entries in the next academic year due to low recruitment.

There has been no consultation with staff in the Politics department about these course suspensions.

We believe this is a short-sighted, underhand and unjust act of self-harm by the university, which threatens staff jobs, students’ futures, and Kingston’s reputation. We fear this may be only the start of management using Covid-19 as an excuse for damaging cuts.

Kingston students have launched a petition to save their department. Please sign and share it: https://www.change.org/p/students-save-ku-politics-department

KU UCU have written to senior management requesting these suspensions are halted until there has been proper consultation with staff and union representatives. We have challenged the rationale for suspending undergraduate recruitment, and proposed alternative solutions to improving staff-student ratios.

We will arrange a meeting on this issue soon – keep an eye on your inboxes.

#saveKUpolitics