Another term, another strike. This time, I am writing a zine that explores some of the history of the university. I’ll be a bit of a hackjob, as I only have a day to do it, but I think it is worth doing nevertheless. I’ve been very frustrated with the ways in which the strikes have been framed so far, so I’ve been reading up on things anyway, more specifically on universities in different countries, and on the historical and economic events that have led up to the present problems. Ideally, I would like to see a strike for a public university, as this would help relieve some of the burdens on staff and students in my view. I am aware that the public university is not necessarily as solution just by being public. Higher education is entangled with wider economic and cultural influences that cannot be changed just like that. Having said that, some of it can.
In terms of public universities, I have looked at some of the reporting on the introduction and later abolition of tuition fees in Germany. UK newspapers tend to point out that Germany does not offer students many services that UK universities do. This includes a lack of student accommodation, sports centres, welfare etc. In fact, the proportion of tuition fees that goes towards actual teaching is relatively low. This is also mirrored in the teaching style which does not involve as much ‘hand holding’ as in the UK or US. Speaking to colleagues working in Germany, there seem to be fairly similar issues in terms of grant income pressure, casualisation, teaching overload and especially lack of diversity. In their case, however, this has less to do with privatisation, but with an outdated university structure which colleagues have described as ‘feudal’. This is one reason why I have not been able to imagine working in Germany. It all seems to be about working on the project of a professor, and to get to the professorial position, you have to work lots of short contracts. There is no comparable lecturer/senior lecturer/etc hierarchy with associated autonomy and relative job security.
At the same time, because the university is funded by taxpayer money rather than individuals, there seems to be better leverage for affecting change. Right now, casualisation is being debated in the national media, partially prompted by the campaign #IchbinHanna. Academics are fighting for the introduction of departmental structures to balance the powers and duties of professors. In the UK, the progressive privatisation of universities makes public debate and also union intervention difficult. In addition, the UK relies excessively on university degrees as a gateway to even the most menial jobs. Germany, by comparison, has a strong apprenticeship culture which means that it is taking pressure off the university system in terms of providing qualifications. While university education is becoming more popular in Germany, too, the system does not yet seem to be at a point where either higher tax or fees have to be charged. In the UK, it has been proposed that business should be taxed more to co-fund education, because they are profiting from the graduate training. This is a bit similar to the German model where business are already providing some of the research income. Getting businesses more involved in university financing is likely to shift decision making power, however.
Very tired now after a day of zine writing, so not the most finished of blog posts, but, anyway, here is the zine! Feel free to comment, suggest amendments – this is the first draft.
If you are in Leicester tomorrow (Thursday), do pop into the student union at 11am for the teach-in. Appropriately meeting by Starbucks…
Mutable Matter 