My French nose in your British business

by Benoit Rajalu

The government has made clear to the British universities that they would have to deal with spending cuts, starting next year.

This particular announcement was not unnoticed and such cuts have been described as “terrifying” and “devastating” already.

This is an issue that will have an impact on the whole world of higher education, but drastic changes and cuts are already being conduced locally.

The course closures and redundancies crisis happening here at UAL is a good example of the ongoing climate.

The most recent reaction to that has been the UCU’s decision to ballot the staff on what actions they should take.

One of the possible outcomes of this ballot is that tutors might decide to go on strike, but this is just a possibility – other alternatives are proposed.

This is a cultural shock for me; being a French student, I have been constantly reminded that the first reaction people should have when they disagree with an administrative or governmental decision is to go on strike.

Budget cuts for higher education? Staff and students would go on strike.

Course closures? At least the university concerned by such closures would be blocked by the students, who would then go on strike, and other universities might follow their lead as a gesture of sympathy.

Member of the teaching staff are being evicted? The remaining staff would go on strike; students would probably protest too. Last but not least: tuition fees…

Education in France is mostly free; some schools will make students pay quite hefty tuition fees, but they are not the majority: universities are run by the state, and therefore financed by the taxes.

French students only need to pay a relatively small administrative fee; if there were even the slightest move to change that fact, I can guarantee that every single French university would be blocked, students would go on strike, and most of the staff would be demonstrating alongside them in the streets of every major French city, as happened in March 2006:

Is that the right attitude to have? I can’t say. However, such an ability to protest when students and staff feel the experience of higher education is threatened certainly is a good thing.

The point is that students and staff could legally go on strike here too, but still haven’t.

From my perspective, this is mostly due to the cost of tuition fees. How could students go on strike when they’ve paid such an expensive fee to begin with?

How could the staff go on strike when their students have paid an arm and a leg to get taught?

More than a cultural shock, this situation underlines a political cul-de-sac, one that is certainly not about to be dissolved amidst talks of rising the tuitions fees.