Solidarity with Staff and Students at the University of Edinburgh

That the Parliament stands in solidarity with members of the University and College Union (UCU) Scotland at the University of Edinburgh following its announcement of five weeks of strike action from 28 September 2026; understands that this action relates to the university management’s announcement of £140 million of cuts and an estimated 1,800 job losses in early 2025; notes reports that UCU general secretary, Jo Grady, has called the university’s cuts "academic vandalism"; understands that the scale of staff cuts is the largest seen in Scottish higher education, despite the university confirming earlier in 2026 that it is not in financial deficit; condemns the university’s decision to close 90 programmes in its College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS); notes with sadness the proposed closure of a number of courses within the school of education focused on inclusive education, such as the Postgraduate Diplomas in Inclusive Education for Deaf Learners and Visually Impaired Learners and expresses deep concern about the knock-on effects that this could have on access to education for disabled learners, and commends UCU members for campaigning on behalf of their colleagues and students, and for their efforts to avoid strike action.