Heriot-Watt UCU members have voted in favour of industrial action in the dispute over job cuts, working conditions, and the management’s refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies.

The ballot turnout was 70% of eligible members. 74% of those voting backed strike action. 87% backed action short of strike such as working to contract, not covering for absent colleagues, and not undertaking voluntary activities.

Why are we in dispute?

The senior leadership at Heriot-Watt are using the portfolio review to push through ‘Rightsizing’ changes which will threaten jobs in Scotland and Malaysia and will affect working conditions. Up to 41 FTE equivalent jobs are at risk in Scotland, with the final headcount likely to be higher. Significant reductions to research time are also likely under the proposals.

Among the hardest hit areas under the proposals will be the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies and we have launched an online Save LINCS petition. Please read, sign, and circulate if you have not already.

Scholar

Along with cutting programmes, courses, and jobs, Heriot-Watt have also notified that after 25 years of delivering essential online learning for schools in Scotland they may have to end the Scholar service to make cost savings. UCU, Unite, and Unison stand together in their condemnation of this rash act of brinkmanship by the senior leadership team.

Scholar has supported a generation of learners since its was set up in 1999. With over 130,000 learners and 14,000 teachers accessing last year it is still used every day in classrooms and homes all across Scotland. Moreover, it is particularly important for those who rely on flexible access to education such as interrupted learners, young carers, learners experiencing anxiety or illness, and those with additional support needs.

Please support our campaign and show your support for Scholar by writing a note of endorsement.

Join UCU today

Our membership is growing. Please do encourage your colleagues to join the union at https://www.ucu.org.uk/join.

To Principal Richard Williams, the University Executive and Court

The Department of Languages & Intercultural Studies (LINCS) at Heriot-Watt University is under threat to lose a third of its staff, facing a proposal to make 11 full time jobs (FTE) redundant, close two languages (Chinese and German BA/MA programmes) and eliminate numerous intercultural studies courses.

We write to you as a diverse range of scholars, professionals, students, institutional and individual supporters who wish to make clear that these proposed cuts to LINCS are entirely unacceptable.

Since its foundation in 1970 by the Holocaust survivor Henry Prais, LINCS has become an internationally renowned authority in its translation, interpreting and intercultural studies degrees.

At a time when Heriot-Watt brands itself as a global university at every turn – boasting campuses in Dubai, Malaysia, and possibly soon Saudi Arabia – this effective dismantling of support for the study of language and culture at the main Edinburgh campus would spell irreversible reputational damage as well as a strategic catastrophe for the University.

The new University Strategy 2035 emphasises global education, employability, and institutional partnerships among its core strategic priorities. In each of these areas LINCS exhibit unique and irreplaceable expertise and leadership. The University’s proposed cuts are entirely contradictory to these professed values, and this course of action would abandon many of the University’s most crucial resources for its long-term aspirations.

It is undeniable that we stand at a perilous crossroads for language and cultural education across the UK, with technological developments – especially artificial intelligence – posing a variety of challenges. With its longstanding expertise in the field LINCS is well positioned to further integrate these new technologies responsibly and formulate programmes of study that draw upon its existing pedagogical and research strengths while offering students the opportunity to use and think critically about new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence. But the realisation of this future requires a department at full strength, endowed with the capacity for meaningful input regarding its future and, most crucially, the University’s unwavering commitment to linguistic and intercultural diversity.

We demand in the strongest possible terms that no actions are taken to foreclose future learning opportunities for Chinese and German, that course offerings continue to reflect the full range of faculty expertise and student needs, and that compulsory redundancies are barred from consideration.

Sincerely,

Save LINCS signatures

If you wish to add your name please sign at https://forms.gle/rMXdmeye1JHX3Qbk7 and continue to share as wide as you can.

Thank-you all.

UCU, Unite and UNISON are jointly coordinating an effort to gather notes of endorsement for Scholar, a national digital learning service, used by senior phase learners across Scotland, for over a generation.

Scholar is seeking to secure its long-term future beyond July 2026 and we are inviting support from anyone who recognises Scholar’s value to Scottish education.

You can show your support for Scholar by completing the form at https://sites.google.com/view/scholar-for-scotland/support-scholar

What is Scholar?

Scholar is a not-for-profit online learning platform, supporting schools and colleges across Scotland for 25 years through delivery of over 40 fully SQA curriculum-aligned interactive courses at SCQF Levels 5, 6 and 7 (National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher).

Funded by subscriptions through Scottish Local Authorities, SCIS schools and Further Education Colleges, Scholar works to promote equity of access to digital learning and wider subject choice in the areas of Maths and Sciences, English and Languages, Humanities and Social Sciences.

The impact of Scholar

Scholar is used every day in classrooms and homes across Scotland to support learning, teaching and independent study. With over 9,000 rich interactive activities and formative assessments, teachers use it to introduce topics, reinforce lessons and track progress. The reporting system helps teachers identify where support may be needed and learners are given a clear picture of their own progress.

Scholar engages with teachers, schools and local authorities to ensure important content and platform suggestions are heard and addressed. The team ensures that materials are refreshed annually with any SQA curriculum changes. Scholar is not just a resource but an active learning service that strengthens teaching and empowers learners.

Scholar plays a vital role for those who rely on flexible access to education such as interrupted learners, young carers, learners experiencing anxiety or illness, and those with additional support needs. The structured, accessible format allows learners to engage with the curriculum at a pace and time that works best for them. Peripatetic EAL teachers (English as an Additional Language) make use of Scholar, as one of the few comprehensive, curriculum-aligned ESOL pathways available nationally.

As a credible service, Scholar also collaborates with charities, subject experts, national organisations and contributed significantly to the ‘supported’ resources of Education Scotland’s National e-Learning Offer.

Beyond schools, Scholar is used in colleges to bridge knowledge gaps and complement course delivery. At a university level, Scholar supports Heriot-Watt University’s Maths Gym and Global College with digital resources, to strengthen foundations and ease the transition into Higher Education. Overall, Scholar helps to contribute to Scotland’s widening participation goals, supporting learners, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to move confidently from school into HE and FE.

With over 130,000 learners and 14,000 teachers with access annually (2024-25 cohort), Scholar has reached over a generation of learners across Scotland since its inception in 1999.

How to show your support

We are gathering notes of endorsement from learners, students, teachers, lecturers, parents, Scholar alumni, employers, national organisations and anyone who recognises Scholar’s value to Scottish education. Whether you used Scholar at school, make use of it in your teaching, benefitted from it in college or university or simply share the values it represents, we would welcome your comments.

Your endorsement will help demonstrate the breadth and depth of support for Scholar and provide vital evidence that it is a valued national service, deserving of a secure long-term future alongside the evolving educational landscape in Scotland.

Please show your support for Scholar.

Thank you

UCU joins with many others in Palestine, the UK, and beyond to reiterate the demands for an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, unrestricted access to humanitarian aid, and the lifting of the siege of Gaza.

We call on all UCU members to sign the parliamentary petition calling for a ceasefire and to end Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Academic freedom and free speech

UCU is aware that some of our members have been targeted for speaking out about the events in Israel and Palestine, and that this targeting has unfortunately often been racialised. UCU has clear policy in defence of academic freedom; if you have been targeted in this way please contact your local rep or regional office for support.

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Michelle Donelan MP recently attacked academics on social media and, having lost the confidence of those working in higher education, must now resign.

Sign the petition and call on her to formally apologise and resign her position.

Dear Senior Leadership Team,

We, as a community of academics, educators and scholars, are writing to you with grave concern over the response of the University to the current Marking and Assessment Boycott. Whilst there are, clearly, issues developing at national level in the UK, we want to address the decisions being made at local level at Heriot-Watt.

In relation to Regulation A10: Authorities in Exceptional Circumstances, we believe that enacting these procedures at scale this summer, as proposed, threatens the integrity of our degrees, runs counter to requirements of accrediting institutions, and has the potential to significantly damage the international reputation of our institution.

We are particularly troubled by:

• The instruction to award discretionary credits (DC) without any limit to the number of DCs, where assessment information is not available. Furthermore, results are already being “deferred” in boards where marks are missing – but without a plan, other than DCs, for what happens when they cannot be deferred any longer.
• Reducing significantly the number of experienced staff required to convene an Assessment, Progression or Award board, thereby reducing scrutiny to ineffectual level.
• Recording grades for assessments that have not been either second-marked or moderated across campuses, or both
• The exclusion of work submitted during the summer exam period from degree classification calculations

The global nature of our university, and the global teaching teams and content delivery, mean that the Industrial Action taking place in the UK impacts quality across our international campuses. The premise of the Heriot Watt Degree being equal on all campuses is anchored in the symbiotic marking and scrutiny of assessments.

Particularly in the case of final-year students, the use of DCs to enable an Award to be made, which cannot then be withdrawn due to the university policy of “no academic disadvantage”, explicitly threatens the integrity of our degrees. This action would risk losing accredited status from a number of our Professional, Statutory and Regulatory bodies, which would impact huge numbers of our global student population, not only this year but also in future years – and we are not aware of any meaningful dialogue with these accrediting bodies to understand these implications. Loss of reputation and/or accreditation risks severely impacting student and staff recruitment.

Expert scrutiny is vital in maintaining the integrity and consistency of academic standards. By stripping back these processes, we risk creating a situation where degrees are no longer awarded on the basis of merit and hard work, but on arbitrary decisions made by a small group of individuals for the sake of expediting a business process. This is unacceptable, both for our students and for the wider academic community.

Of particular concern is the impact on final year undergraduates, who face the prospect of having a significant proportion of their assignments go unmarked. This includes the dissertation and/or final project, which should be the crowning achievement of their degree. We are also concerned about the impact of these changes on students with disabilities, mental health difficulties, or who face systemic inequalities. In the absence of an Equality Impact Assessment, we fear that these measures may exacerbate existing inequalities and make vulnerable students even more disadvantaged.

Furthermore, the impact on staff does not seem to have been adequately considered, and this is particularly evident by the decision to dock the pay of staff participating in legal industrial action by 50%. To do so during a cost-of-living crisis, on the basis of advice from the national employer organisation UCEA, shows a disconnect with your own staff at a local level. On a more practical level, the implications of this decision are likely to be twofold: i) staff participating in the current action will have no option but to reduce their time to 50% FTE, and ii) the long-term impact on staff relations will be dire, destroying community and collegiality, running directly counter to Heriot Watt Values of ‘Belong’.

We acknowledge that the current dispute is complex, and that there are competing demands and interests at play. However, we firmly believe that there is a better way to resolve this situation, one that does not disadvantage our students or undermine the integrity of our degrees. As educators, we cannot stand by and allow our degrees, the welfare of our students, and the well-being of staff to be treated with such disregard.

We urge you to reconsider your approach to this dispute, to lead a fresh approach to negotiations at a national level, and to engage with staff in a meaningful dialogue at local level. We believe that by working together, we can find a solution that upholds academic standards, treats students fairly, and preserves the global reputation of Heriot Watt University.

Sincerely,

The letter is about our concerns at a local level. It is not from the Heriot-Watt branch of UCU but rather from a mix of members and non-members who all agree with the points raised.

If you wish to add your name please sign at https://forms.gle/tmxQ57wcWgkknDQV9