Industrial action June 2025 – frequently asked questions for students

The BU branch of the University and College Union Trade Union (UCU) is organising industrial action in response to the proposed reduction of staff numbers and restructure at BU.

Strike action will take place on:    

• Wednesday 11 June   
• Thursday 12 June   
• Monday 23 June and   
• Tuesday 24 June.   

UCU are calling this “discontinuous strike action” as those who take part may choose only to strike on certain days and times. The union must tell us about any strike days in advance, and we will update you if there are any other dates in the future. We know from previous experience that not all staff will take part in industrial action. 

In addition, ‘action short of strike’ will begin on Wednesday 11 June and continue Wednesday 19 November.  This could include: not undertaking any voluntary activities; not covering for absent colleagues; not uploading or sharing materials related to lectures or classes cancelled because of strike action; and not rescheduling lectures or classes cancelled due to strike action.

Yes. Please come to university as normal. Because not all our academic staff will be on strike, many sessions will run as planned.  

Where we know that a session is unable to take place, for whatever reason, we will tell you in advance. Please regularly check your timetable and Brightspace for any notifications. 

Staff taking part in the strike do not have to tell BU in advance that they plan to do. Some may choose to tell us, but we are not able to tell students or other staff members, as this would violate their privacy rights. 

Only members of the UCU Trade Union can go on strike.  Not all BU academic staff are members of UCU and we know from previous experience that not all members will choose to take part in industrial action, while others may only choose to strike on some of the days. 

The university and all our services will be open on the strike days, such as the libraries, study spaces, and social and sports facilities.  

The Academic Skills Hub has lots of activities and resources, including face-to-face sessions, where you can practise your academic writing, literature searching, presentations and many other skills. You can drop in and see the CareersBU team in the library or explore the Graduate Skills Programme. If you want to develop your IT skills, then look at what’s on offer by the IT learning centre.

The food and drink outlets will be open and there will be all the usual on-campus activities taking place.

If there is not a suitably qualified staff member available, then the session won’t be able to run. This is to ensure your safety. We will let you know as soon as possible what we are doing to make sure you don’t miss out on your learning.   

We are not expecting these to be impacted, but if they are, we will ensure that they are rescheduled at the earliest opportunity. We will tell you what you need to know as soon as we can. 

You should submit your work by the current stipulated deadlines, unless you are told otherwise. You will not be automatically entitled to or given an extension due to the strike action. We are doing all we can to maintain all assessment deadlines but will tell you if this is not possible. 

Where we know that a session is unable to take place we will tell you in advance. Please regularly check your timetable and Brightspace for any notifications. 

If your timetabled session isn’t taking place, there are lots of other activities happening on campus to support your learning. 

We have a group of people, including SUBU, working together to ensure that plans are in place to minimise any impact on your learning and student experience. We have successfully planned for potential disruption before, for example during the pandemic and periods of extreme weather.

We will continue to share information with you to ensure that you are impacted as little as possible, if at all.

Yes, you can contact members of staff in the same way as you do now; it is possible that there may be a slight delay in responding to you if that staff member is taking industrial action. If your enquiry is urgent, please contact AskBU or your programme support team. If they cannot answer your questions directly they will work with other colleagues to help you. 

If you hold a student visa, the conditions of the visa are not affected by any strike action. Unless we tell you that a session has been affected by industrial action, you should come to university as normal. The usual processes for attendance monitoring will apply to sessions which take place. 

Should a session be affected by industrial action, this will be recorded by the university as a cancelled session, and this will not have a detrimental impact on your attendance record for the purposes of your student visa. 

The industrial action does not change the normal requirements for compliance in terms of your student visa. You should continue to request permission for absences in the normal way. 

If your lectures are impacted by the industrial action, we will ensure you will still receive the learning and support needed to complete your degree.

Your student fee covers a wide range of activities and services, including lectures and timetabled sessions. Many of these will continue despite the strikes. 

If you have paid for travel or childcare costs to attend a lecture or meeting on campus and on arrival found that it had been cancelled with no notice because of industrial action, please contact the AskBU team for advice. 

There may be staff protesting at some of the campus entrances on strike days, and it is their lawful right to do this. They cannot obstruct people, or buildings, or create a nuisance for others and you are allowed to carry on as you wish without being stopped. 

All our normal support services are open during the period of industrial action. You can also contact AskBU, who will advise you about any specific support which you may need at this time. 

Information about complaints, exceptional circumstances and student protection plans is available on our website.