Read the latest from UCU’s political team. Includes a rundown of the party conferences: www.ucu.org.uk/politicsmonthly

UCU this week questioned the value of Tory plans to launch a website that would allow students to rate their lecturers if the Conservatives were to form the next government. The union said the website sounded not dissimilar to sites such as ratemyprofessor.com, which includes ratings for helpfulness, clarity and hotness and has comments that [...]

Report exposes postcode lottery of educational achievement and how gap between haves and have nots has widened Stark differences at regional level and within major cities throughout Britain: read the full report on the UCU website

The theme of this year’s major political party conferences has been one dimensional with all parties warning of cuts in public sector funding after the next election. Within further and higher education so called ‘efficiency savings’ of £400m are already being sought as a result of the 2009 budget statement. These savings have a profound [...]

The Glasgow North East by-election has been forced by the resignation of former Commons speaker Michael Martin who stood down as Speaker of the House of Commons in June. The main parties’ candidates are: Labour: Willie Bain, a law lecturer SNP: David Kerr, former BBC journalist Conservative: Ruth Davidson, also a former BBC journalist Liberal [...]