www.thecourieronline.co.uk Monday 14 December 2015 Issue 1324 Free
FESTIVE PULLOUT A cultural special p.21
The Independent Voice of Newcastle Students
NYE LOOKS A range of inspiration to
bring in the new year p.29
Est 1948
TOP 10s OF 2015 The best of films, games, music
and TV from this year p.24
‘Raising the Bar’ causes concerns amongst staff t
By Antonia Velikova News Editor
An anonymous contact has alerted The Courier to raising concerns regarding staff redundancies as a result of the University-wide initiative ‘Raising the Bar’. The Research and Innovation Performance policy, put together during the summer, proposes a more focused approach in order to achieve better academic results in University research. “The UCU, representing the academic staff of Newcastle University, are very much in favour of making Newcastle University a better place and doing even more of the excellent research that we already do,” Bruce Baker, a UCU officer, told The Courier. “We differ strongly, however, with the university managers about how best to accomplish this. The UCU believes that an academic institution should base its practices on colle-
Image: Struthious Bandersnatch
giality and the fundamental principle of shared governance, that the academic business of a university is properly directed by the academics themselves, with the managers to help put the will of the University--that is to say, the academics and the students--into effect.” According to Baker, the crafting of the Research and Innovation Performance Expectations policy did not involve any University academics. Instead, it was authored by University managers and only presented to academics at the beginning of this year. “We believe that the union was not consulted on something which constitutes a fundamental change to the nature of the employment relationship
between our staff and the University, but more importantly, we do not believe that the way the RIPE policy was put through Senate was handled appropriately either,” Baker said. “Senate in effect was told to sign a blank cheque. It raises serious concerns about the governance of the institution. “Our members are justifiably concerned for their jobs and their livelihoods. While the original RIPE documents were vague about how the expectations would be implemented, we have had some clarity in documents tabled by the university managers in the course of our discussions over the past few weeks. The bottom line is that they propose to use capability procedures to deal with those who are deemed to not meet these re-
“Our members are justifiably concerned for their jobs and their livelihoods”
quirements.” In the last few meetings with UCU members, University management have tabled a Memorandum of Understanding, in order to make the key features of the policy clearer. “During our discussions with representatives of the University and College Union (the UCU) it was proposed that a Memorandum of Understanding be drawn up to set the context of Raising the Bar and lay out our key points of agreement,” a spokesperson of the University said. “The MoU has yet to be officially agreed but it is intended to reinforce the need for us all to work together for the good of the institution.” However, the UCU still fundamentally disagrees with the policy, according to Baker: “Our key objection here is that the university managers have unilaterally, with no consultation with the union, with no process of consultation with the academics themselves, rede-
fined what it means to be an academic, setting a bar so high that few will be able to meet the requirements and thus putting the vast majority of the academics at Newcastle University in a position where they could lose their jobs through capability procedures.” Word of the policy has sifted through down to the student population as well. Beth Watt, the creator of Facebook page Newcastle University Students Against Raising the Bar, spoke to The Courier about this recent development: “I feel in equal part relieved that in light of the campaign and The Courier’s reporting that more staff are feeling comfortable enough to come forward anonymously and speak out, and horrified at what they are exposing, though sadly it’s nothing I hadn’t already assumed was happening. With the student campaign I have endeavoured to highlight continues on page 5
Winter Graduations By Sophie Norris
New graduates pose for photos at Winter Congregations Image: Jake Jeffries
From Wednesday 9th to Friday 11th December, over 1,900 students from Newcastle University graduated, the majority receiving postgraduate degrees. This event is one of four different graduation ceremonies that run throughout the year. Students from many different disciplines graduated over the three day period, including those from the faculties of Medicine, Arts, Business, Computing, and History. Pham, a Masters graduate said: ‘I studied Electronic Engineering. ‘My favourite memory of studying at Newcastle is meeting a lot of people. ‘I will stay here and do my PhD.’ Another graduate, Yichen said: ‘I’m half happy and half sad to graduate. ‘My best memory is making a documentary as part of my dissertation.’ On the day, Victoria and Rebecca Smith, two identical twins from County Durham graduated, each achieving degrees with distinctions in Flood Risk Management.