by Ciarán O’Donoghue, East London Socialist Party
Staff and students at London Metropolitan University have been protesting against the university’s plans to get rid of 120 lecturers and support staff. Staff are angry and prepared to take action. The University and College Union (UCU) and Unison have organised a series of protests, supported by students. Socialist Party and Socialist Students members have attended.
The planned cuts are occurring despite the university’s £180 million of ‘unrestricted’ reserves and the high wages of many individuals, including £341,000 given to the vice chancellor.
These cuts also pose a risk to students of whole courses being cut, as well as loss of vital student services. A lot of London Met students are working-class people, many of whom might be the first in their family to attend university.
These planned cuts are another part of the trend towards the increasing inaccessibility of university education to working-class people. In addition, post graduation, students face a mountain of debt from student loans, as well as difficulties in finding jobs after university in many cases.
The decision to make these job cuts should be immediately reversed by the university, drawing from their plentiful reserves. Universities should be fully funded to ensure access to higher education for working-class students across the country.