The Death of a University
16 days of strike action at the University of Essex.
Photographed over the course of the dispute, 2025–26.
“Nearly half of UK universities are projected to run deficits in 2026, with up to 50 institutions potentially facing insolvency and closure within the following year. Recently released figures show that for the first time in more than a decade, the number of academic staff employed across UK universities has fallen. The number of job losses in the sector in recent years is estimated to be around 30,000. To put this figure into context, the official number alone is the same as those lost in 1992 with the final closures of deep-pit mines. Meanwhile, private degree delivery centres are fast becoming the only financially viable model in the sector. These are all the result of a structural crisis in the funding model of the sector as international student numbers go into prolonged decline.”
“At some point, they will announce what happens next. There will be an email, a meeting, some cold hard words about jobs lost and lives damaged. And when that moment comes, you may feel alone — but you will not be alone.
“I want you to look to your left and right. We might feel a long way away, on the other end of a Zoom call, but we are here with you. We are your co-workers, your colleagues, your friends. Whenever we feel alone, management is winning. But when we recognise that we are, in fact, united — then they don’t stand a chance.”
The Vice-Chancellor announced 20% job cuts and the closure of the Southend campus in a special meeting. She faked a tear as she did so. The audience sat in shock. I expected there to be shouting, some form of confrontation, but it was quiet. A few sobs rose from the lower tiers of the lecture theatre. The VC presented job cuts and campus closures as an inevitability, a question of “how” not “if”. Outside, the derelict remains of what was once student accommodation loomed over the high street.
The first day of strike action. The campaign has already been going for three months. Despite democratically-agreed plans to run a ballot in advance of the redundancy notice dropping, the branch were forced to ballot over Christmas and New Year. Bureaucratic failures have meant that our first day of strike action falls after the end of the statutory consultation period. Unison haven’t balloted, so UCU members strike alone.
The last day of strike action. Spring term is coming to an end, and teaching is ending for the summer. With it goes much of academic workers’ leverage. Strike participation has fallen from very high levels in the first few weeks to a hardcore. The picket lines are more sparse, and end earlier. Scabs drive past the picket unchallenged.
