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Nadine Zubair

@nadinezubair.bsky.social
318 followers 731 following 209 posts

This, that, and the other

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Reposted by Nadine Zubair
University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 13h
Higher education is in a once-in-a-lifetime crisis. The funding model is broken, jobs are being lost and courses are being cut. We’re fighting back and demanding the government properly funds our sector. Find out what’s happening and support the fight: educationitsours.org.uk⁠
Dyfrig quote
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
It's mind boggling how the start of an academic year, which really should be about welcoming students, now brings so much dread for university staff because everyone is waiting for or receiving news of impending cuts.
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The tactics at the University of Brighton are extreme and so very bad for all staff and students
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
So true
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Reposted by Nadine Zubair
University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 07/09/2026
This Wednesday: join the mass lobby for trans rights at Parliament. Trans people’s legal protections are under attack. We need MPs to hear clearly that we will not accept rights being rolled back. THIS Wednesday, 1–5pm, Houses of Parliament www.transsolidarityalliance.com/mass-lobby-2...
transsolidarityalliance.com
Mass Lobby for Trans Equality - 9th September 2026
The law around trans equality is fundamentally broken. Government inaction is hanging trans people and organisations out to dry - with a confusing mess of challenging rules and lawfare.
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Sending solidarity to @sheffielducu.bsky.social and staff! 4 restructures in 6 years is madness. What's stark is how each uni doing these changes rationalises it by saying they have to do it because others are. So it's a circular argument. Higher ed is cannibalising itself due to bad leadership.
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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 26/08/2026
Dolly Parton: a lover of pink, a lifelong champion of education and literacy, and a proud union member for more than five decades. An icon in every sense. #dollyparton #dolly Solidarity, always.
Quote from dolly: I believe that when you are in a position to help you should.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Plenty to reflect about re: the Arday affair, but I'm going to repeat this one thing. The playbook the right used here is effective even though it's not especially sophisticated, as it relies on the audience to do the dirty work. I've been calling it "Trojan horse propaganda", let's go with that. 1/
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Sunday Times research finds universites down £550+ million on international (aggregate across the 55 universities with lower international fee income of 128 surveyed)
Annual revenue from international students. Change over 2 years. Coventry dowm £74m
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Alexander Kasprzyk @amkasprzyk.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
This happened at my previous university (I won’t name names). The standard offer was traditionally extremely high, but we were forced by Faculty to accept students with shockingly low grades to pump up the numbers. It became impossible to teach to our usual standards, forcing us to drop content.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Look at this graph. The share of national income going to the richest 10 percent was lowest (and share to lower 90 percent highest) when union membership was at its highest. As unions have weakened, inequality has widened. This is why we must build back union power.
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Sardonicus @sardonicus.eu · 04/08/2026
man in sunglasses, he is smoking a cigarette
'And after work, you try to become yourself again'
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Dr Matt Lodder @mattlodder.com · 22/07/2026
In which the government tells the entire UK university system to die in a fire.
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Genuine question: When there is a drought imminent should data centre (and industrial) water use be rationed before hosepipe and other water use bans, or would that be more harmful?
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Totally agree. Redundancies and precarity, active, looming, past, impact how we think, and think about things. Constant threats suffocate creativity and the ability to go down rabbit holes and emerge with ideas and shape them into new knowledge.
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
‘Thousands of university job cuts in humanities and social sciences are creating widespread cold spots for languages, classics and theology degrees, the British Academy has warned’ www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities
Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year
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The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
"This is a crisis for social mobility, young people’s careers, the skills our economy depends on and the opportunities available in communities across the UK" Our newest data covered by The Guardian this evening and dropping tomorrow morning to our SHAPE Observatory. shorturl.at/Qpa9Q
theguardian.com
Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities
Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year
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Aaron Tay @aarontay.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Update. Google used to return a million answers. An LLM can produce one persuasive answer. A library helps you know whether it is right...
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QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
✊QM UCU supports branches currently on strike!✊ All over the country, the sector is facing mass redundancies, mergers, and deteriorating working conditions. But they don't take on an isolated group of workers! We stand together and support each other across branches! (1/2)
"Solidarity Across Campuses, QM UCU Stands with Edinburgh, Nottingham, and Goldsmiths. We sent 3x £500 pounds to their fighting funds. 
Logo of UCU QM Branch and a picture of people at a picket holding up a banner which has 'Solidarity' written on it. What you can do next: Check the UCU dispute list, Send a solidarity message and donations, visit a picket near you, bring a solidarity motion to your next branch meeting
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
'The decision to slash funding for creative subjects comes despite the field being named as one of the UK’s “highest potential sectors” in the government’s industrial strategy.' 1/2
timeshighereducation.com
Cuts to creative courses ‘undermining government’s own strategy’
Arts institutions warn creative education is becoming increasingly hard to deliver as government slashes funding from September onwards
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Gary R. Bunt @garyrbunt.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
I'm re-re-posting this significant article: "The open-source archive now contains more than 500,000 digitized photographs, identification papers, diaries, maps, films, and letters, many of which were collected directly from Palestinian families and might otherwise have been lost forever."
wired.com
How Palestinians Are Building a Digital Archive That Can’t Be Erased
Distributed backups, cyber resilience, and a half-million records are preserving Palestinian history beyond any single building or border.
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Plashing Vole @plashingvole.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
The new academic year starts in 2 months. The modules to run are set in stone even if the all-new first year ones haven’t yet been designed. All that remains is to decide which 3 of the 23 of us will still be here to teach them. The redundancy selection criteria has not yet been announced…
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Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 06/07/2026
They are trying to force some universities into bankruptcy. Total madness. Remember - they have pledged more money to a privately owned theme park than they‘re going to spend on the teaching grant.
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
This will be so detrimental to so many universities. We know that the arts are always targeted, but nursing???? This government "strategy" is completely mind-boggling. #UKHE
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Charles Keener @charleskeener.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Excellent but devastating thread on the UKHE cuts...
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Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 30/06/2026
People need to realise that university leaders care more about rankings than the excellence those rankings are supposed to represent. If they think they can keep the ranking while sacrificing the excellence, they will - so long as it looks good on a balance sheet.
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Reel Connections CIC @reelconnections.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
The Norwich History Festival programme has launched! Running from 17th-25th July, with nine days of talks, walks, film, theatre and exhibitions. This year's theme is 'Rebels and Radicals'. Take a look at what's on: www.norwichhistoryfestival.co.uk
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Exactly. Without its staff what exactly is the university trying to sustain in this hyper move to cut jobs. What is its purpose?
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
A grim day in a grim week in a grim month for UK higher education, with Dundee, Exeter and Hertfordshire all making major announcements of planned redundancies. Shrinkage of the research & teaching base by the invisible hand's visible fist is not an 'us' or 'them', SHAPE or STEM phenomenon. 1/2
Photo of an open hand, with part of 4 fingers showing.
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Rabih Alameddine @rabihalameddine.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Still don't know
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Dr Matilda Fitzmaurice @matildaf.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
#UCU members: UCU's guide for branch officers has been updated following the draft EHRC Code of Practice. @ucu.org.uk #UKHE www.ucu.org.uk/media/15820/...
ucu.org.uk
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
'Despite calls on ministers to redress declines in the amount the state pays to universities, the Department for Education (DfE) is planning to announce the Strategic Priorities Grant for 2026-27 will be cut back to about £1.25 billion – down from £1.35 billion'. How to show you hate HE. 1/3
timeshighereducation.com
Government to cut university teaching grant by £100 million
Coming reduction in funding for high-cost subjects and access programmes ‘extraordinarily frustrating’, says Universities UK leader
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
A system that relies on persistently and increasingly robbing Peter to pay Paul is simply not sustainable. From student loans to Strategic Priorities to draconian student visa regimes, government is opting to asset-strip higher education. Will your children and grandchildren thank them for it? 3/3
Stained glass window depicting saints Peter and Paul, in biblical robes with halos. Against a black background, there are vibrant red, blue and yellow colours.
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Andrew McGettigan @amcgettigan.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
I have seen a few academics offering their takes on English HE in the last week. I don't think the issue of insolvency is really being grasped in these. Basically, it is worse than people think ... The Education Committee gives a good account of the issue: committees.parliament.uk/work/9012/hi...
committees.parliament.uk
Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students - Committees - UK Parliament
The UK’s higher education sector is in trouble. Dozens of universities are making redundancies and cuts to courses, trying to stay afloat amid uncertainty over where their money is coming from.  ...
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Karen Gregory @karengregory.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
We used to talk about the University as an "anxiety machine", producing intolerable working conditions (slowness, for example, was a response), but it's really become a "grief machine" and I'm not sure we know what to do with the pain and loss yet.
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
This is a very clear (and depressing) articulation of the current state of UK higher education by Stefan Collini. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
lrb.co.uk
Stefan Collini · Squadrons of Pigs: Bonfire of the Universities
The problems with Britain’s universities are systemic and deep-rooted, not just local or contingent. Yet political and...
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Really curious if @andyburnham.bsky.social has anything different to offer UK universities that are drowning right now.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
'The University of Sussex has said it plans to cut 200 jobs as part of an attempt to save £35m annually. The facility in Brighton will begin a 45-day consultation on Thursday over the potential redundancies, which include roles in admissions, student support and IT services.' 1/3
bbc.co.uk
University of Sussex aims to cut 200 jobs in £35m annual savings drive
Trade union Unison says the cuts will only heap "strain and uncertainty" on the staff who remain.
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
It's like no one knows what universities are for anymore. They're being used to plug systemic failures in the labour market that they aren't responsible for, but are now implicated in. I am so enraged by how cruelly we are treating our young people...
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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 22/05/2026
Equality is not conditional. Dignity at work is not negotiable. The EHRC Code of Practice has been published. UCU is examining it urgently. This is a significant and unsettling moment and we will not leave branches to navigate it alone. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1451...
Please see link for full statement. Please see link for main statement. Please see full statement.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
'The University of Nottingham’s branch campus strategy remains a benchmark.' Sadly none of these authors gives any figures for, say, income stream over a period of time compared to expenditure, analyses what % of TNE ventures survive for a decade or how their HEIs are faring at home. Flying pigs?
timeshighereducation.com
Has TNE become the future of internationalisation?
With visa restrictions in the traditional ‘Big Four’ host nations, and source countries seeking to build their domestic capacity in an uncertain world, transnational education is regarded by many as h...
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Jo Grady @drjogrady.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Nearly half of our universities are forecasting deficits. Institutions across the country are closing departments and issuing redundancy notices. The government don’t yet consider this a crisis. How many more jobs must be lost before ministers act?
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Dr Matt Barnard @matthewbarnard.phd · 15/05/2026
We really need to abolish the myth that education isn’t worth the investment. Universities and their students are an economic boon to their local areas and to the country as a whole, no matter what they study. And if anyone thinks humanities are a waste of resource, you’re proving why we need them
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
A strong call to the Labour govt from @drjogrady.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk. The sector is being allowed to collapse and needs immediate intervention to prevent irreparable loss. www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...
politicshome.com
The government must intervene before the universities crisis worsens
During moments of political crisis it’s often said there are weeks when decades happen. This has been one such week.
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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Thinking about Starmer's nationalisation of steel to save 2700 jobs in Scunthorpe (good) & the news that at Nottingham Uni 2700 staff face redundancy risk (bad). How much of Lab's problem is a fantasy of heroic manual workers they'll "save", leaving some workers feeling patronised, others ignored.
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Jo Grady @drjogrady.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?
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Nadine Zubair @nadinezubair.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
How much worse do things need to get before anything is done? Universities cannot continue like this...
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Richard Carr @richardcarr.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
2014 REF: 2026: closing UG History
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Christyn Parkes @parkesland.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
A strong statement from @ucu.org.uk on the University of Sussex win against the OfS. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1449...
ucu.org.uk
Sussex ruling shows why Office for Students has lost sector's trust
UCU welcomed a high court ruling that overturns the Office for Students' (OfS) £585k fine imposed on Sussex University for breaching free speech regulations. UCU said the judgment raises serious quest...
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