Wojciech Kopec

Graph of spine points 5 (now real living wage) to 16.

Graph of spine points 17 to 28.

Graph of spine points 29 t0 40.

Graph of spine points 41 to 52.

And here we are! Literally every spine point is paying less in real terms than it was back in 2008. Spine point 5 (now replaced by the real living wage) is down by about 3.4%. By spine point 10, we're down over 10%. By spine point 23, over 20%, ultimately reaching a 22.1% reduction. 3/3

The two buttons meme with the UK government faced with a choice between rethinking HE funding and increasing tuition fees

moneyontheleft.org/2025/01/16/u...

F

Scientists charged too much to come to work in UK, says Royal Society Combined upfront cost of the five-year Global Talent Visa and the Immigration Health Surcharge stands at £5,941

www.ft.com/content/7144... another thing that makes moving to the UK difficult and should be removed ASAP - simply does not make sense

Absolute misunderstanding of economy, believe in the outdated „balanced sheets” models and full surrender to finance bros and megacorps. Absolutely appalling

Screenshot that reads: The award "underlies the importance in investing in science for innovation and long-term economic growth", says economist Diane Coyle of the University of Cambridge. "It's great to see the Nobel prize recognize the importance of this topic," adds innovation policy researcher Richard Jones of the University of Manchester, UK. "It's important that economists understand the conditions that lead to technological progress," he adds. The winners, says Coyle, "have long been on people's list of potential candidates".

‘Economics Nobel prize won by researchers who showed how science boosts growth’ by @philipcball.bsky.social in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Why is Labour hanging our universities out to dry? Politics Home noted this last night: The head of the University and College Union, Jo Grady, has warned that universities face a financial calamity similar to the 2008 banking crisis, accusing the gov...

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/10...

Destroying UK HE through completely backwards policies that perpetuate a death spiral for the sector is not novel, though.

It's the endgame for two decades of erosion and implosion.

Apologies, this is too long for alt text. Here is the (paywalled) hyperlink: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2878436

Apologies, this is too long for alt text. Here is the (paywalled) hyperlink: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2878436

@dabiophysicist.bsky.social I just found a news-and-views article about the Aldrich lab's classic work on Shaker K+ channel inactivation. An *amazing* snapshot-in-time, in the pre-structural era but with everyone knowing it's only a matter of time. What an amazing piece of science reporting!

And before 'austerity', HE was one of our world-leading (almost world-*defining*) sectors; raising fees, cutting funding, imposing the disastrous REF regimen, and redefining HE as employment preparation has utterly eviscerated the core ethos and role of our universities.

Jo Grady nails it, as always

Thousands more university jobs cut as financial crisis deepens University workers will vote on national strike action this month over a 1.4% pay offer made in the summer.

UK Universities cut 12,000 jobs, more on the way.

40% of Unis in financial crisis.

Major exporter destroyed by successive govts

Obstacles for foreign students.
Low fees in England, lack of govt funding.
£267bn student debt.
Home student numbers down.

How will the UK compete with other nations?

Dear Dr. Kopec,

I hereby confirm the receipt of your application for the vacancy Junior Professorship with Tenure Track in Theoretical Chemistry.
Due to our experience it will take usually about one year to reach a final decision on the offered position.

Found in old emails. Apply early folks 😀

Curbing ‘unfunded’ research ‘could chase away academics’ - Research Professional News Researchers wary of signals from senior figures that universities “can’t afford” research without external funding

Curbing ‘unfunded’ research ‘could chase away academics’.

Researchers wary of signals from senior figures that universities “can’t afford” research without external funding.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Supervising project students in the UK - here are your data, research plan, meetings scheduled week by week, marking sheets and examples from last 5 years

Supervising project students in Eastern Europe - i just read about this new theory, it is now your topic, see you in 6 months

Science Funders > we want you to do research that challenges the current understanding of life

Also science funders > we will give you one postdoc for 2 years

Maybe all the people that know they usefulness of physics based modelling are industry actually finding new compounds instead of writing papers like this 😬😬😬

Page argues franchising — where students are disproportionately from poorer backgrounds — has been oversold as a means for widening participation. In reality, he says, it often leaves students behind, with outcomes “taking down our overall metrics”. Staff were never comfortable with the franchise-heavy model, he says. “Voices were raised about their concerns, the things they saw and practices that didn’t align with our values, but they weren’t listened to,” he adds. “Now we live or die by our own work. We’re not going to be reliant on other organisations. I would advise any other university with large franchise numbers to do the same.” Buckinghamshire cut ties earlier this year with five of its former private franchise partners. Even so, other universities are continuing to explore franchise models. For Queen Mary’s new “International Year One” in business and management, for example, it will outsource the teaching and recruitment for the programme to Kaplan International College, a for-profit group offering pathway courses into higher education. Taught at Kaplan’s centre in London Bridge, the one-year course will enable foreign students to move straight on to the second year of Queen Mary’s business management undergraduate degree. Kaplan’s tuition fee is about £9,000 cheaper and requires lower entry grades and English language qualifications.  Queen Mary academics fear the Kaplan pathway, billed as the only one of its kind leading to a London Russell Group university, will not improve the academic preparedness of students.

A brilliant piece in the FT about the human and institutional cost of overreliance on international student fees. Managers are making our most vulnerable students pay the price of a failing funding model and are skewing the purposes of university in their pursuit of fees.
www.ft.com/content/3f49...

Despite worries over the role of agents, a global survey of university leaders by Navitas and Nous Group shows 24 per cent will increase investment in agent commissions and incentives, but down from 30 per cent in 2022. Margins will keep depleting, says Connolly. As student flows and fees become increasingly volatile, universities “will need to be able to say we tried everything”, he adds. “It means more vice-chancellors and senior people shaking hands with agents.”

Managers should admit the funding model doesn't work and join in advocating for change, not push the pain and risk onto our most vulnerable students and change universities beyond recognition. Or making institutions beholden to agents, taking the future hostage. www.ft.com/content/3f49...

UK Universities desperately need support from our government.
Education should be free for everyone.
Education is not a business.
Education is key for a strong economy.
Education is important for everyone's life and well-being.
#Solidarity with @uonucu.bsky.social

“£230bn saving” 🙄 If you issue your own currency, you don’t “fund” the NHS by shrinking the population - you need the real capacity. Migrants add tax, fill critical roles, and face limited benefits access. The constraint isn’t a debt figure; it’s having enough nurses, carers, teachers and builders.

The Basic Income scheme brought me success, wellbeing and family life; the Government must retain it The pilot scheme has given artists a balance between working well and living well, writes Michael Gallen.

Excellent piece on basic income for the arts by Mick Gallen. One of the most talented and hardest working artists I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Amazing to read what the scheme did for him.

www.thejournal.ie/readme/opini...

Really helpful post here about the upcoming ballot which you'll have seen an email about on Monday. #WeAreTheUniversity - vote yes to:
▶️protect jobs and prevent cuts
▶️defend the agreements that support our work
▶️demand a pay uplift.

✊✊

It's welcome week and I'm on strike (again) over the University of Edinburgh's refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies. UoE has no deficit, but cuts of £90 million are already underway, damaging teaching, research, and the future of education at our university.

Return it in 48h or we’re gonna kill this dog

Peter Kyle’s speech at UK Universities conference 2025 A speech delivered by Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Peter Kyle, at UK Universities conference, Exeter on Thursday 4 September 2025.

Science Secretary Peter Kyle very clear today: 'too many universities are competing for the same pool of students'. He wants much more 'co-operation' (AKA merger) and unis narrowing down to their individual strengths. You have been warned.
www.gov.uk/government/s...

New preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We used molecular dynamics simulations and solid-state NMR (@fmp-berlin.de) to look at calcium binding to the pore domain of the calcium-gated K+ channel MthK. @wojciechkopec.bsky.social @compbiophys.bsky.social

9 in 10 students are struggling to afford rent and food…

Yet former universities minister Jo Johnson says it’s “perverse” to complain about tuition fee rises 😱

Read our report: tr.ee/wAdLcJ

Jay Bhattacharya, the NIH Director, thinks that if science isn’t popular it should be abandoned.

“No matter how elegant the science, a platform that lacks credibility among the people it seeks to protect cannot fulfill its public health mission”.

He is unfit for his job in every imaginable way.