As Private Eye Magazine reports - Over six years, management paid Lodestone to run public affairs campaigns and curate “engagement” with ministers in order to boost REF “impact”, yet refuses to explain what exactly was bought because it would “prejudice commercial interests”.
2/4
We will be asking why this money was not spent on secure contracts, student support, and protecting jobs – and how staff and students can have any confidence in governance when such decisions are taken behind closed doors.
4/4
This blurred line between research “impact”, paid political access, and secretive spending should alarm everyone who cares about public universities, academic integrity, and democratic accountability in higher education.
3/4
Overwork is not a personal time‑management issue, it’s a collective problem created by employers. UCU’s Workload Survey will feed into national campaigns and local negotiations to reduce workload pressure. If you want your reality reflected in that data, complete the survey