The Guardian investigation has led trade unionists to accuse vice-chancellors of “importing the Sports Direct model” into British universities. Among junior academics – those most likely to be doing frontline teaching – three-quarters are on these kinds of precarious contracts. At Birmingham, 70% of teaching staff are on insecure contracts, while at Warwick it is 68%. “When academic staff are demoralised and forced to cope with low pay and insecurity, the knock-on effect on students is significant,“ said Sorana Vieru, a vice-president at the union. Yet the figures show that Edinburgh has shifted many of its teaching staff on to other kinds of insecure contract.

Source: The Guardian November 16, 2016 15:00 UTC