Why should you be bothered about the New College of the
Humanities – AC Grayling’s for-profit college which will be opening next week
in Bedford Square?
The New College of the Humanities doesn’t have its own syllabus
or library – instead, it will tutor students through a University of London
external degree, with students paying to use Senate House Library – piggy-backing
on the work done by University of London staff in the Library and the
International Academy.
But of more concern is the fact that NCHUM comprises both the
high-profile college and a separate arm – a for-profit
company called Tertiary Education Services Limited. This is a shared
services company – basically, a company which expects to make money by taking
over outsourced services in higher education, everything from admin to library
services.
At the University of London we’ve already seen that outsourcing
our facilities, maintenance and catering services doesn’t work – it squeezes
the workers’ pay and conditions and delivers a worse service for everyone. As
other institutions in UK Higher Ed struggle to survive against aggressive
privatisation, it’s vital that we fight every attempt to privatise within our
sector in order to preserve jobs and working conditions for all of our members.
Please join the protest on Monday if you can.
Monday
24 September at 1pm, Bedford Square (just round the corner!).
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