Academic trade unions worry about growing threats to academic freedom, shrinking public investment, and increasing commercialisation
On 14-15 October, Higher Education and Research Standing Committee of ETUCE was hosted by SNCS-FSU in CNRS Regional Office in Villejuif/Paris, France.
The meeting focused on a common concern across Europe: the declining attractiveness of academic careers and the need to defend higher education and research as a public good. Academic trade unions discussed growing threats to academic freedom, shrinking public investment, increasing managerialism and commercialisation, deteriorating working conditions, and the erosion of meaningful social dialogue. Participants from several countries highlighted that these trends are undermining the quality of teaching and research and weakening the social mission of universities. The meeting also examined UNESCO's work on academic and scientific freedom, the revision of the UNESCO Recommendation on the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel, the future of early-stage researchers, and preparations for the 2027 Bologna Process Ministerial Conference.
The participants agreed that there is an urgent need for more public investment in higher education and research sectors, job creation and stable employment, and to end the excessive precarity. Trade unions reported widespread reliance on fixed-term contracts, difficulties in career progression, salary losses, and insufficient research funding. Participants stressed that permanent work should be supported by permanent funding, that academic freedom cannot exist without employment security, and that early-stage researchers should be recognised as employees with full labour and social protection rights. Collective bargaining and social dialogue were repeatedly identified as essential tools to improve salaries, working conditions, career prospects, and participation of academic staff in university governance. Trade unions also emphasised the importance of defending the right to organise, strengthening collective agreements, ensuring equal pay and non-discrimination, improving mental health and well-being, and protecting staff from excessive managerial control and negative impacts of digitalisation and the use of AI.
Trade unions of European academics and researchers expressed their solidarity towards the French higher education students and staff for their fight for sufficient public budget whose demands include:
Our students’ demands are our own! - As 50% of students skip meals because of lack of money.
Repeal of Parcoursup! Creation of sufficient university places! – As thousands of young people in France remain without a higher education place each year.
Job creation in universities! – As French universities have lost thousands of jobs while student numbers have increased.
Gender pay equality! - As female university employees earn significantly less than men on average
20% increase in the value of the index point! - As public-sector salaries have lost more than 20% of their purchasing power in France.
Immediate release of €1 billion to welcome students rejected by Parcoursup! - As hundreds of thousands of candidates do not receive the higher education place they requested.
