Welsh Assembly Statement of Opinion

It is clear that the university is not bothered by the fact that many Assembly Members have called on it to

"suspend their plans for twelve months and to fully engage with trade unions and staff to agree a managed process of change over a reasonable timespan to protect the maximum number of jobs and courses and mitigate adverse effects of any cuts."

The Statement of Oopinion can be read here.

South Wales Echo

The South Wales Echo has the story here.

BBC News

The story is covered on the BBC news website here.

Meeting on Thursday at Noon. Party on Thursday Evening.

The Cardiff branch of the lecturer's union, UCU, has called a meeting for any lecturer or tutor who risks losing their job as a result of the University Council's decision. You do not have to be a union member in order to attend. UCU officials will go through the options available and answer questions.

Meeting Details Thursday 30 July, Noon in the Humanities Building Committee Room (1.31).

All our part-time tutors have now received dismissal notices. Some of them have given decades of service to our students.

Also, on Thursday evening we have the Campaign Party. It's your chance to come and have a drink or a meal in a cheerful West-Indian ambience with real rocking chairs. All our supporters are very welcome. We shall deplore the short-sightedness of the university authorities and have a good time.

When: 6.30pm, Thursday 30th July
Where: The Rockin' Chair, 62-64 Lower Cathedral Rd, Cardiff, CF11 6LT
How much: West Indian Curries will be available for £6.50.

The Result: The Struggle Continues!

The University Council have released the following statement. As we feared, they have followed the recommendation of the Scrutiny Group and advocate saving a mere 50 out of our 250 Humanities and Welsh Courses. Moreover, there won't be another Humanities or Welsh course until at least January 2010.
We are disappointed. But the fight goes on!

The University Statement:

Cardiff University statement: Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning


Cardiff University’s governing body, the Council, has tonight accepted proposals designed to secure the long-term viability of the Centre for Lifelong Learning.

The Centre will continue to run its popular courses in science, the environment, computer studies, social studies including business and in foreign languages. It will also provide a new programme of humanities courses focused on key subject areas. Over the next few months a programme of approximately fifty humanities courses, due to commence early in 2010 will be designed and marketed to the public.

While this programme will involve a reduction in courses and staffing at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, the University believes it is the best option to preserve a structured approach to CHOICES, the Centre’s programme of courses for the public. It will retain the humanities as a key component of the University’s outreach activities with the wider community. The Council has asked for a new programme to be brought forward offering a structured approach to academic development which can be co-ordinated with undergraduate and postgraduate provision elsewhere in the University.

The Council believes that the original business case submitted on 18 May in which all humanities courses ceased remains the most financially viable of all the options considered for the Centre for Lifelong Learning. However, it also recognises the considerable interest and passion expressed by staff, students and the public in lifelong learning humanities provision. It therefore accepts the recommendation that some initial financial risk be underwritten in order to produce a new academic programme that can be made sustainable in the long term. The new humanities programme will be run on a trial basis, with a view to establishing its long-term viability. There will also be a review of course fees, to bring them into line with similar courses offered by other providers in South Wales.

The University is grateful for the contribution made to the consultation process by the staff unions and the campaign set up on behalf of the humanities courses. All parties have acknowledged that the present situation facing the CHOICES programme in the Centre is not sustainable and action is needed to ensure its survival. The Council is grateful to University officers and to staff within the Centre for the work undertaken to examine alternative options. Council was also grateful to the Campaign Group for its carefully considered contributions and recognised that many of the longer term proposals made by the group have considerable merit and have been included in the programme of action.

The decision will affect the amount of employment available for tutors at the Centre from September 2009. Precise numbers have yet to be confirmed, but this is likely to affect just over 100 tutors, the large majority of whom teach less than 50 hours a year at the Centre. However, additional new teaching roles should become available with the new programme in 2010. Staff and their representatives will continue to be consulted about the impact on employment in the short and long term. Considerable efforts are also ongoing to redeploy staff with the introduction of a new procedure to match the skills of Centre staff with vacancies elsewhere within the University on a priority basis.

The University hopes that all parties will now recognise that united action is the best way to secure the future of the Centre, at a time when lifelong learning provision is coming under pressure across the UK. The University looks forward to the campaign and the unions supporting and promoting the full range of provision offered by the Centre for Lifelong Learning.

Professor Terry Threadgold, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Staff said: “We would like to thank all the staff, students and members of the public who have contributed to the University’s consultation on the Centre for Lifelong Learning. The University’s decision has recognised the strong commitment to maintaining the Centre’s humanities teaching as far as is possible. I hope we can now count on everyone who has contributed to help us move forward and ensure that humanities provision at the Centre is well supported and has a successful long term future.”

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Stephen Rouse,
Public Relations Office,
Cardiff University.
029 2087 5596
Mobile: 07976 513386
e-mail: RouseS@cardiff.ac.uk

The Demo

We had a good turnout for the demonstration. And it didn't rain!

There was a message of support from Leanne Wood A.M.
Jenny Randerson A.M. travelled from an engagement in Manchester to speak and show her support. And Jenny Willott M.P. also attended and spoke in support of our campaign.

Several campaigners thanked our students, our colleagues and our A.M.s for all their support during the last hundred days. Whatever the outcome, we know that what we are doing is worthwhile. If the university Council fails to see reason then we won't stop until we've changed their minds!

Patricia Clark gave an interview to BBC Radio Wales's Good Evening Wales programme.
You can listen again here until 3 August. (It's 35 minutes into the recording.)
Meanwhile, other campaigners were being interviewed by ITN Wales and Radio Cymru.

SOME BREAKING NEWS

The Scrutiny Group has finished its report to the University Council, which meets on Monday 27 July. Its recommendations are not due to go public until after the Council meeting. However, several members of Senate have confirmed that the Scrutiny Group recommends saving 40 – 50 humanities courses, to be chosen partly on financial viability and partly because of some academic rationale (which is not spelled out). This is to be on a “time-limited trial basis initially, before a longer-term decision is made.”

IF the University Council accepts the recommendation, then about 20% of the Humanities courses will be saved and 80% will be lost. This is bad news for our students, and particularly bad news for those pursuing named foundation certificates. Also there is no guarantee that the courses will continue after 2010.

IF COUNCIL ACCEPTS THE SCRUTINY GROUP RECOMMENDATION THEN:

1. It is apparently impossible for the centre to be able to organise the selection of the 40 – 50 saved courses in time for a September start. It will probably be January 2010 before the next Humanities course runs. It could be even later.

2. All tutors’ contracts will end on 31 July 2009. There will be interviews to hire new tutors for the saved Humanities courses. Current tutors may apply. The situation is that current tutors will be made redundant on 31 July and will start again next year on a new contract.

3. If you are a Humanities or Welsh tutor then please send in any outstanding pay claims as soon as possible. Any redundancy payments will be calculated on this year’s earnings and Human Resources don’t know what you’ve earned until you send in a pay claim.
It would also be prudent to locate your past contract so as to see how many years of continuous service you have. The Human Resources records are not perfect, by any means.

4. The abbreviated Humanities programme would be managed by one co-ordinating lecturer, or two working on a job-share basis. This means at least two redundancies of co-ordinating lecturers.

5. Management do not plan to make any reduction in support staff before January 2010 because they are likely to be busy implementing the new programme.

THIS IS NOT GOOD NEWS.
Come to the demonstration on Monday 27 July, 4.15pm at Main College, Park Place, Cardiff (opposite the Student union building). This could be the last chance of making your voice heard. It is just possible that, hearing sounds of audible disappointment, Council members may be moved to save more courses.
THIS IS THE LAST CHANCE TO SAVE OUR SUBJECTS!