WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, UCL AL #356 - Trade Unionism - Public Service: Higher Education and Research at the End of Their Lungs (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 A plan without a hitch. After almost 20 years of neoliberal reforms,

universities are bankrupt and, without a broad emergency plan that is
both financial and democratic, they risk disappearing or being
privatized. ---- The Law on the Freedoms and Responsibilities of
Universities of 2007 was the reason for a huge movement in universities.
In 2004, the association Sauvons la Recherche had allowed meager gains
for the financing of our system. ---- Despite everything, the LRU law
was applied and the abuses denounced have materialized. Along with the
increase in contract and precarious staff, the presidencies have taken
control of the university system. With international rankings of
"excellence" universities in their sights.

The university has left for Shanghai
Although highly contested by the academic community, the presidents and
the ministry have their eyes fixed on the so-called "Shanghai" ranking.
But the LRU law alone will not have been enough to make a place there.
Successive governments have then merged institutions and universities,
because the place in these rankings mechanically increases with size. It
does not matter that this does not impact the quality of teaching or
research. Another lever, the generalization of research funding by calls
for projects. The budgets have then focused on "excellence" universities.

The Education Code has taken some big cuts. The model of research at the
service of the private sector, subject to competition, deregulated,
which no longer concerns itself with the interests of its staff and
users, is imposed. The censored budget was also the worst budget for the
university and research in twenty years, with a cut of 550 million
euros! Currently, 60 out of 75 universities are bankrupt.

Censorship, and then what?
In the immediate future, we must impose that the government respects its
commitment made as part of the neoliberalization process, known as the
"Bologna" process: at least 2% of GDP in public research. We must
massively create statutory positions, give tenure to contract workers
who want it, but also, as for the rest of the public service, increase
salaries and index them to inflation. The complete opposite of the
Barnier government which wanted to increase the waiting days or even
eliminate the precariousness bonus.

There is money! State aid to companies to do private research, known as
"research and development", is too high and with too little control (the
opposite of what the academic world is experiencing). The amount of the
Research Tax Credit exceeds the CNRS budget! These budgets must be
massively redirected to the university.

Moreover, it is not just a lack of resources, but also attacks on the
status of civil servants, a crisis of meaning in natural, formal or
engineering sciences (eco-anxiety in the face of jobs that feed
industry, make people take planes, maintain techno-solutionist
illusions), incessant trials against "Islamo-leftism" and "wokism"
against the human and social sciences, students strongly impacted by
Parcoursup and by bleak future prospects, etc.

There is an urgent need for a complete reform of the public higher
education and research service that meets the real needs of the
population rather than those fantasized by the ruling classes.

Céline, Jonathan and Léo (UCL Lyon)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Service-public-L-enseignement-superieur-et-la-recherche-a-bout-de-souffle
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