Cuts

Stand Against the Cuts

Your union needs YOU!

On the 20th October, the coalition government announced £89billion of cuts to public sector spending. Teaching budgets for universities have been cut by 80%, the HE budget overall by 40%. The government expects universities to make up the difference by charging up to £10,000 a year to incoming students.

This is not an abstract concept; if implemented, these cuts will affect YOU. You will have fewer lectures, fewer module choices, poorer quality computers and equipment, a smaller range of library books, and charges may be introduced for services that are currently free. Your educational experience will be more expensive but inferior to the education those in government who are proposing these cuts received when they were at university.

We need to come together as a student body and say that this is unacceptable, that these cuts are an ideological choice and that we have the power to stop them. All across Europe, students are resisting cuts to their education and the marketisation of their degrees. Last year, students at universities across the country, including at Sussex, Kings' College London, London Metropolitan, Manchester Metropolitan, Leeds and more managed to stop department closures, staff redundancies, and other cuts to our education, by protesting, by demonstrating, and by campaigning. Our movement is still growing: in Oxford in late October, 1,500 students marched against the proposed cuts.

Join the movement, and stand up for YOUR education. We will not take this lying down!

We WILL March in Manchester 24/11/10

After a national day of action was called for the 24th November, over 5000 students from universities and colleges across Manchester marched from University Place into central Manchester to voice their opposition to a rise in tuition fees. The march was due to end at Castlefields but spontaneously also marched to the Town Hall, then moved back down Oxford Road to occupy a university building. After the building was shut down, a sit-in was staged outside te John Owens building, which was violently dispersed by the police, who then drove the crowd down to outside MRI and attacked them with police horses. The crowd then walked back up to the Manchester Aquatic Centre, where the remaining students were then kettled for an hour before being released unharmed at about 7pm. Over 1500 students also marched in Bury. A total of some 50,000 students demonstrated in cities across the UK, including London, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds, Oxford, Cambridge and Monmouth.

UMSU students occupy the Finance Office

Following an emergency meeting called by students on the 11th November, a spontaneous occupation took place at the University's Finance Office. Students demanded for the Vice-Chancellor Dame Nancy Rothwell to condemn the proposed cuts, to state whether Manchester fees would be going up to £6000 or £9000, and for information to be made public about the proposed cuts at the University. After several hours of negotiations, Dame Nancy Rothwell released a statement which the occupiers accepted and the occupation ended peacefully, with news coverage from national organisations including The Guardian and BBC News.

See previous news items

What can YOU do?

Join a group: The UMSU HE Cut Collective meet on Fridays at 5pm in MR1.

Upcoming UMSU events:

Friday 26th November: Lobbying Mark Hunter, MP

Mark Hunter MP is a Liberal Democrat MP for Cheadle who promised before the election to vote against higher tuition fees, but is now threatening to go back on his promises. UMSU students will be heading to his surgery to remind him to keep his word - email campaigns@umsu.mancester.ac.uk to book your place on our minibuses.

Tuesday 2nd December: A very unique and cutting Biko Live...