European Trade Union Committee for Education

Further to and consistent with the Resolutions adopted by the 9th and 10th EI Congress in Buenos Aires in 2024, the Resolutions adopted by the ETUCE Conference in 2020, the ETUCE Extraordinary Conference in 2021, and the ETUCE Special Conference in Liège in 2022, this ETUCE Conference:

Notes with concern that:

1.The cost-of-living crisis and pressures caused by the digitalisation and green transition of society have accelerated calls for higher education and research (HER) to prioritise labour market outcomes and links with the private sector.

2.Sufficient, long-term and predictable core public funding for HER is being superseded by funding that is short-term, competitive and unpredictable , while peer review of teaching and research is being displaced by quantitative metrics and ‘accountability’ measures. Such policies are fuelling the rise in short-termism and precarious employment, contributing to the erosion of academic freedom and threatening the quality of HER.

3.The costs of studying (i.e. learning material and higher tuition fees) and living costs for both national and international students and staff are limiting equal access to higher education institutions and increasing early drop out without graduation, thus creating greater social inequalities.

4.Increased political and ideological attacks on academics and higher education and research institutions are restricting essential freedoms to teach and research and undermining academic freedom, institutional autonomy, the self-governance of higher education teaching personnel and academic integrity.

5.Rising nationalism is making it much harder for international students and staff to study and work in HER in Europe.

6.Digitalisation, automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are developing at pace in the higher education sector, with significant implications for academic job roles, and for intellectual property rights, privacy, infrastructure and public responsibility.

7.The continuing erosion of meaningful collective bargaining and social dialogue has contributed to further salary erosion, as well as greater workloads, pay inequalities, precarity and job insecurity in HER.

Calls on ETUCE and member organisations:

1.To demand increased structural public investment as a pre-requisite for quality and inclusive higher education and research and to oppose cuts to higher education and research budgets.

2.To address the gender pay and pension gaps which are still present in the higher education and research sector.

3.To denounce theoverwhelming precarity of higher education staff employed with contracts, which harms long termed research projects.

4.To challenge attempts by governments and companies to fund a limited range of disciplines and research projects - often only guided by perceived labour market relevance -, andto advocate a more equal and balanced relationship between HER institutions and the labour market.

5.To ensure that the protection and promotion of academic freedom and other fundamental values such as institutional autonomy and staff and student participation in governance is central to HER in Europe.

6.To highlight the essential role of HER in strengthening democracy, fighting against hate speech and violence, and contributing to peace and environmental sustainability.

7.To implement financial support and welfare service for students to secure them with decent accommodation, sufficient food and enough funding for their studies all along their curricula.

8.To push for meaningful collective bargaining and social dialogue at the national and European level, including in developing areas like the digital and green transitions.

9.To ensure a strong union voice in the HER work initiated by the European Commission, the Council of Europe and within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA, Bologna Process countries).

10.Call on European governments and the European Commission to implement and respect the 1997 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel and the 2017 UNESCO Recommendation concerning Science and Scientific Researchers.

11.To continue to use the ETUCE’s Higher Education and Research Standing Committee as a means to develop trade union strategy on European policies affecting higher education and research staff within the European Union and the Bologna Process countries, and to strengthen solidarity among member organisations in the sector and beyond, including sharing information, strategy and experience.