Over half of University of Manchester teaching staff on ‘precarious’ contracts

Over half of teaching staff at the University of Manchester are on temporary, “insecure” contracts, according to new figures released this week by The Guardian. At the university, a reported 57.9 per cent of teaching or teaching-and-research staff are employed on this type of contract, which the University of Manchester University and College Union’s (UCU) branch secretary, Dr Adam Ozanne, calls “insecure [and] precarious”.

Russell Group universities fare the worst and rely the most on insecure workers according to the figures, which come from the Higher Education Statistics Agency and have been analysed by the University and College Union. The University of Birmingham is the worst offender, employing 70.3 per cent of their teaching staff on these contracts, despite the unveiling of a £500 million building project, and a £416,000 salary for their vice-chancellor, Sir David Eastwood.

Trade unionists, in response to The Guardian investigation, have accused Vice-Chancellors of “importing the Sports Direct model” into British universities, while the National Union of Students has expressed concern that students may not be receiving quality education, despite paying up to £9,000 a year in tuition fees.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU, described “a reserve army of precarious and exploited labour,” adding: “Many universities are hacking up teaching jobs into ever smaller bits and shoving people on to the worst contract they can get away with.”

The University of Manchester University and College Union has told The Mancunion: “The Guardian article highlights the growing inequalities in pay and the insecure, precarious nature of employment for many staff working in this and other universities. As such, I am sure all UCU members in the University will welcome it.”

However, the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, the lobby group for university employers, argued: “It is essential that universities retain the ability to operate with part of their workforce in a flexible mode to enable them to respond to changes in demand. The variability in student enrolments on programmes, and features of academic life such as sabbaticals and research leave for permanent staff, mean that fixed-term opportunities to teach, generally for a year or a semester, are made available.”

Responding to the claims, a University of Manchester spokesperson said: “Using a blunt headcount of staff is an inaccurate way of representing the reality of this picture. The University employs many specialists who teach students for part of their course and also employs people to cover staff on research sabbaticals or to work on research projects which are externally funded for a set period of time.

“Manchester is committed to investing in its employees and therefore delivering the best possible service to students. In our most recent staff survey 92 per cent of staff stated they were proud to work at the University, the highest proportion in the sector.”