She said: “Nobody goes on strike because they love standing out on picket lines. We are losing a week’s pay because we care about our students, we care about our university. We are the university.
“Management is speaking all the time as if they are the university, but we are the university and we’re standing here because we don’t have any other choice.”
Ms Woodman added: “The fact that we’re standing out here, and that this may impact the experience of new students, is on management squarely. They are responsible for that situation.”
UCU members at Edinburgh University take part in industrial action (Image: Jane Barlow/PA) One academic taking part in the industrial action said a planned cuts of £140 million are “not necessary” and will undermine the student experience.
Caitlin Jones, a researcher at the university’s informatics department, said: “The University of Edinburgh senior management have claimed that a huge amount of money needs to be cut from the university budget, in particular from the staff budget, and they haven’t agreed to rule out redundancies.
“We’re striking to say that this isn’t necessary, that the senior management shouldn’t have these cuts, because these cuts will lead to a loss of jobs – jobs that university needs, that the university staff and students need, to provide good research and a good education, which is the purpose of this university.”
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Asked about the impact of the walkout on students, she said: “We want, as members of staff, to offer the best possible education for these students and we think that what we’re doing is actually the best thing for them.”