Northumbria staff to strike for ten days
Staff at Northumbria University will strike for ten days in a dispute over pay and the university’s attempt to move them out of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. Ten days is a substantial block in a twelve-week semester, and the practical questions for students are whether teaching is rescheduled, whether assessments are adjusted, and whether the university will say so in writing. Extensions and academic support covers asking.
Children of student parents now travel free on York’s campus buses
After a students’ union campaign, children of student parents travel free on University of York campus bus services. Small, specific and worth copying: student parents pay for childcare, travel and equipment that no maintenance calculation accounts for, and the fixes tend to come from unions rather than universities.
What doctoral training has fixed, and what it has not
A PhD student sets out how doctoral training has improved — structured skills programmes, better supervision agreements — and where it has not: isolation, funding that ends before the thesis does, and a job market that absorbs a fraction of those it trains. Worth reading before committing to one. Is a masters worth it covers the step before.
Exeter’s nightlife ranked among the best, and among the priciest
Exeter has been named one of the best student cities for nightlife in 2026, while ranking poorly on drink affordability — which is the trade-off in most of the cities that top these lists. If you are choosing a city, the going-out budget varies more between places than rent does. Student nightlife covers doing it cheaply.