Staff at the University of Edinburgh start five-week strike
UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE UNION (UCU) SCOTLAND
PRESS RELEASE
Monday 28 September 2026
Staff at the University of Edinburgh start five-week strike
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at the University of Edinburgh today (Monday) start five-weeks of strikes in a dispute over £140million cuts and compulsory redundancies.
The strike follows the announcement two weeks ago that 90 programmes at the university face closure. The dispute began nearly two years ago when the university principal announced £140million cuts with “nothing off the table”, pointing to compulsory redundancies. Since then, 100s of staff have lost their jobs with the union saying some were pushed out or with expected contract extensions or renewals not happening. Hourly-paid staff have had their hours slashed and positions have disappeared. Naming those courses and degree programmes facing closure is an escalation in the dispute and increases the possibility of management forcing staff out of work by compulsory redundancies.
The 1,800 jobs the union estimates will be cut is unprecedented in Scottish higher education. It is happening in the wealthiest Scottish university, and the third richest in the UK, currently sitting with over £3billion reserves. Politicians have called on universities to use their reserves rather than cutting staff and the union called on the new higher education minister to put pressure on the university to similarly protect staff and jobs.
The union said that, even at this late stage as the strike begins, university senior management could still take action to end the dispute by meeting the demands of the branch including committing, finally, to no compulsory redundancies; stopping cuts to fixed-term and hourly-paid staff; revising the outsized surplus target; meaningfully negotiating with the union and prioritising savings on capital expenditure rather than staff costs. The union said that the university’s financial pressure is largely driven by its capital investment strategy, yet senior management’s approach to cutting costs targets staff costs much more than capital and building costs.
The university principal, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, is paid well over £400,000 a year and under his leadership the university has acquired over £1billion of capital assets, including the Edinburgh Futures Institute, for which the university continues to pay in spiralling interest and depreciation. The union said that these decisions were made without accountability to the campus trade unions or the wider university community, with the university’s Senate, the body responsible for overseeing academic governance and standards, sidelined and a vote of no-confidence ignored.
Cecile Menard, UCU Edinburgh branch co-president, said: “The very last thing staff want to be doing at the start of term is standing on a picket line. We want to be welcoming new and returning students and getting on with the excellent teaching, research and student support that this university’s staff are known for. The fact that, instead, we’re on strike and that students are seeing the start of term disrupted is entirely down to university senior management.
“Senior management can stop this strike today by acting on what our members are asking for: prioritise cuts to non-staff budgets and stop the redundancies that are decimating our university, while leaving those who remain with an unmanageable workload and exhaustion. Senior management cannot keep cutting staff and expect students to receive the education and support they deserve.
“That 90 of our programmes are facing closure is a stain on the university’s name and demonstrates the failure of senior management. Management has already pushed through hundreds of hidden redundancies, with some classes doubling in size over the past couple of years as a result. We’re striking to stop more jobs being lost, but also for a university that respects its core educational purpose and its duty to students. Management need to think again and engage meaningfully with the union to end this dispute.”
Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said: “Staff at Edinburgh have taken multiple days of strike action and participated in a marking and assessment boycott but management have still, despite reserves over £3billion, refused to rule out compulsory redundancies. With a new minister responsible for universities in place, I’m repeating the union’s demand that ministers use their influence to ensure that universities put staff and students ahead of profits and that Edinburgh uses its reserves to prevent job cuts.”
ends
note
* Picket lines will be held throughout the university between 8.45am and 12.30pm including Old College on South Bridge and George Square in Edinburgh. UCU spokespeople will be available for interview.
Pickets began at 8:45am on Monday at several locations including here at Old Medical School, Teviot Place.
