A FINAL-YEAR student whose dissertation has been disrupted by strikes at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) has backed striking staff – saying redundancies would be far more damaging to students.
Diannon Andrews, 20, has had lectures and seminars cancelled as staff take industrial action over planned job cuts at the university.
The fourth-year Social Sciences student said she is worried the disruption could affect her grades and her degree classification as her lecturers and dissertation supervisor participate in the strike action.
But she remains firmly behind striking staff after discovering that her own dissertation supervisor is among those at risk of redundancy.
Speaking to The National, Andrews said: “Basically all my classes are on strike. My sociology class, my politics class and a dissertation class, because all the people that lead them are on strike.”
Andrews had been due to attend three lectures and a seminar on Tuesday, but said all four were cancelled because of the industrial action.
The disruption comes during a crucial year for Andrews, who has begun work on her dissertation and is currently preparing to seek ethical approval for her research.
She said her supervisor being on strike already means questions about her project are taking longer to be answered.
But Andrews said she is more concerned about what would happen if her supervisor lost his job.
She said: “If my dissertation supervisor is made redundant, that's going to impact my dissertation.
“I'll probably just get given a new supervisor, but that means they've got another person to supervise, which means they get overworked.
“I'll have to catch them up with my project and give them all the background context.”
Despite being concerned that the strikes could affect her grades, Andrews said she believes the long-term consequences of reducing staff numbers would be worse for students.
She said: “I think the redundancies would be more damaging because it would impact the quality of teaching.
“Less staff means that they're overworked because the ratio of staff to students increases.
“That would impact the quality of teaching and students wouldn't get as much support from teachers because they have more students to teach.
“And it could also impact staff morale, which could unintentionally harm students.”
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at GCU are taking six days of strike action in a dispute over job cuts and the possibility of compulsory redundancies.
The union says the university originally sought to cut up to 100 posts through a targeted voluntary redundancy scheme, with the number of posts it wants to cut now standing at around 50 following voluntary departures.
UCU has argued that GCU is in a sufficiently strong financial position that the cuts are unnecessary, while the university has said it is facing significant financial pressures and needs to take measures to ensure its long-term sustainability.
Scottish Greens tertiary education spokesperson Iris Duane MSP backed striking staff and said the proposed cuts would be detrimental to both students and workers.
She told The National: “I stand with the staff who are taking strike action. They deserve our unwavering support through the strikes, because they care about their students, and know that they deserve better than planned cuts to their education.
“Cutting back on knowledge and opportunity through cuts and compulsory redundancies is detrimental to both GCU students and staff.
“This is a sector in crisis across our major cities, with unions trying to engage in good faith and failing to be heard, and this demands attention before any more losses are suffered.
“If we want to remain a place of world-renowned education, then we need to support the workforce who keep those cogs turning, so that staff feel supported to do their jobs well instead of being pushed towards industrial action.”
Duane, who said she will join staff on the picket line this week, added: “Students and staff deserve much better than what is being offered.”
Andrews said she had emailed GCU's principal and vice-chancellor Mairi Watson to raise her concerns and express support for staff.
However, Andrews said she felt the response did not address the concerns she had raised.
She said: “If they were actually doing stuff to minimise the disruption to students, the strikes wouldn't even be happening.”
Andrews also questioned whether the proposed cuts were consistent with GCU's “Common Good” ethos, which she said was one of the reasons she chose to study at the university.
She said: “The common good is about the bettering of society. It's a concept within the social sciences.
“Some staff members that are being targeted for redundancy are doing research into poverty and inequality.
“If you are for the common good, why would you be making people redundant that are conducting crucial research into poverty and inequality?”
She said the dispute had changed the way she feels about the university despite continuing to value her course and teaching staff.
“It's made me feel like I'm not really valued by the uni,” she said.
“Which is a shame, because I really like my degree and the staff are wonderful.
“But it's mostly decisions by management and not the lecturers and teaching staff – who generally do an amazing job.”
Andrews, who commutes for around an hour from East Ayrshire to attend university, said she will join the picket line on Thursday, when she will address the picket about her experience as a student affected by the dispute.
A GCU spokesperson said: “Ensuring our resilience in a challenging climate for higher education is essential, and our priority is resolving this dispute so that we can safeguard our institution in the interest of our students and staff.
“There are no easy decisions here, and like many universities, we must act now to ensure our long-term future. It is therefore disappointing that the unions decided to walk away from negotiations. That said, our door remains open to resolve the dispute.”
The GCU student’s association has been asked for comment.
