The Westminster government will consult on?introducing ¡°minimum service levels¡± in UK?universities to?limit the impact of?industrial action on?students, education secretary Gillian Keegan has announced, in a?move decried by?unions as ¡°a?spiteful attack on?workers¡±.

Addressing the Conservative Party conference, Ms Keegan said it was ¡°outrageous¡± that an assessment boycott coordinated by the University and College Union had led to thousands of students not getting their degrees on time.

She said that ministers would consider extending minimum service levels, introduced earlier this year in sectors such as rail, ambulance and fire and rescue services, to higher education. These allow employers to issue notices to unions to ensure that a minimum service operates during periods of strike action.

The announcement comes after several years of on-off strike action in disputes over pay, pensions and working conditions in UK universities.

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¡°Over recent years we have seen constant strikes [in universities],¡± Ms Keegan told the conference. ¡°We have seen students not getting the education they have paid for and some not even getting their degrees marked. This is outrageous behaviour.

¡°I am announcing we will consult to introduce minimum service levels in universities so that they have the tools they need to make sure that students get the teaching that they deserve.¡±

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Jo Grady, UCU¡¯s general secretary, branded the announcement ¡°a spiteful attack on workers everywhere from a party that has run out of options and will soon be run out of office¡±.

¡°We will not stand by while Tory MPs try to force our members to cross their own picket lines,¡± Dr Grady said.

¡°The recent strike action on campus is a direct result of the market-driven dogma of successive Tory governments. They have created funding inequalities across the sector and encouraged university leaders to act as intransigent CEOs.

¡°UCU will use every means at our disposal to fight these threats to our fundamental freedoms alongside the whole union movement.¡±

Raj Jethwa, chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, said that institutions ¡°recognise the significance of this consultation and we will provide a considered response¡±, but suggested that he would prefer to work with unions to end the industrial disputes, rather than force members back to work.

¡°Ucea and our members always study such proposals carefully before responding, but our current priority is working constructively with the unions on a number of vital pay-related matters including the review of the pay spine, workload, contract types and further action to reduce the already falling pay gaps in the sector,¡± Mr Jethwa said.

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¡°A crucial element of resetting industrial relations in the sector is developing a shared understanding of affordability. For the sake of students and staff alike, it is now vital to work together to end the sector¡¯s recent cycle of industrial disputes.¡±

Also in her conference speech, Ms Keegan, who holds degrees from Liverpool John Moores University and London Business School, said it made ¡°no sense¡± to set an ¡°arbitrary¡± target of enrolling 50 per cent of young people in higher education.

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She said that her own apprenticeship with an electronics firm had ¡°changed her life¡±, and that university ¡°isn¡¯t the only option¡±.

¡°Some people may view [apprenticeships] as second rate, but my mission is to change that, to make an apprenticeship the way to come a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, even a space engineer,¡± Ms Keegan said.

¡°Many will still want to go university and that will be the right choice for them, and if they do they should get the education that they pay for.¡±

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said that Ms Keegan¡¯s announcement on minimum service levels was ¡°aimed at UCU¡­but many managers will be concerned about what it means in practice too¡±.

¡°The proposal begs lots of questions. What standards? Which students? What penalties? These can doubtless be resolved in the forthcoming consultation,¡± Mr Hillman said.

¡°But the real importance of the new announcement is that it reveals the role university policy could play at the next election. Universities need to do all they can to avoid becoming political footballs by reaching out to policymakers to explain the contributions they make to levelling up, raising skills and economic growth.¡±

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chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com