This page lists motions passed by the branch at quorate branch meetings. Motions from the current year are listed here: please see the 2024 motions or 2023 motions pages for older motions.
Motion passed 26th June 2025 by quorate branch meeting
No Confidence Motion in the Leadership of Architecture
Motion proposer: Mark Hatter ARB, RIBA
Motion seconder: Simon Miller, ARB
This Branch no longer has confidence in the Leadership of Architecture, within the School of Design and Creative Industries, due to their following actions:
- Supporting unjustified budget cuts that will cause significant harm to the educational offering of the faculty, degrading the quality and consistency of student experience.
- Seeking to ‘Fire and Rehire’ current employees on significantly worse terms.
- Instructing long-standing staff members who are re-applying for teaching positions to attend a ‘Competency Interview’.
- Ignoring the UOG Academic Work Planning Framework guidance and National Contract when designing and planning the recently advertised teaching positions.
- Failing to communicate with staff members at risk of redundancy and refusing to answer questions raised by staff seeking clarification on the proposed reorganisation.
- Failing to keep current FTE staff informed of detrimental changes to their working conditions and excluding them from the consultation process.
- Failing to communicate major changes in course structure and delivery to prospective and current students, risking students’ wellbeing and undermining trust in the institution.
- Failing to uphold Standard 3 of the ‘ARB’s Standards for Learning Providers’.
- Making proposals that would fail to uphold Standard 5 of the ‘ARB’s Standards for Learning Providers’.
- Failing to uphold the professional and ethical standards expected of academic leaders.
- Unnecessarily risking the School of Architecture’s reputation, professional standing and thereafter Professional Accreditation.
- Breaching GDP Regulations during communication with staff.
Notes on the Motion:
- The budget cuts proposed in the FLAS restructuring plan are being implemented in their entirely. No member of the leadership has made any statement opposing the cuts but have instead been extolling the supposed benefits of restructuring via. their ‘5 Point Plan’.
- The new FTE ‘Lecturer in Architectural Design’ posts, as described in the Leaderships ‘5 Point Plan’ have identical duties to the posts being removed in the redundancy process but with lower pay, more hours committed and a far worse student to staff) ratio.
- Questioning the professional competency of long-standing tutors to teach architecture is hugely insulting and could be considered defamatory. If the leadership are unaware of the competency of staff) to perform teaching duties that they have been engaged in for many years, there has been a complete failure of oversight.
- The new FTE ‘Lecturer in Architectural Design’ posts, as described in the Leadership’s Point Plan’ describe the new 0.2 posts as having one full teaching day, and 0.4 posts as teaching on two days. This 100% allocation of hours to face to face teaching provides no time for teaching preparation or other administrative duties.
- The leadership have refused to respond to staff) emails seeking clarification on critical aspects of the reorganisation.
- The working conditions for FTE teaching staff) are equally adversely affected by the Leadership’s ‘5 point plan’. They were only informed about the proposals well after the consultation period and were not invited to comment or raise their concerns. Requests to the leadership from FTE staff) to clarify their roles going forward have not been answered.
- To our knowledge the leadership has still not made current and incoming students aware of the impending cuts to teaching resource and increase in student to staff) ratio. The student experience will be significantly degraded from that which was described to prospective students at open days and interviews.
- Standard 3 of the ARB’s ‘Standards for Learning Providers’ reads as follows:
Governance and Leadership ‘Providers will have effective governance and leadership to ensure the quality of education and training, and instil a culture of equality, continuous improvement, transparency and accountability.’ - Standard 5 of the ARB’s ‘Standards for Learning Providers’ reads as follows:
Teaching and Learning Resources (Providers shall ensure that) There are sufficient and appropriate teaching and learning resources to deliver and assess the Outcomes and compliance with these Standards. - The Leadership have dismissed out of hand and refused to engage with formal, written complaints raised by staff) members during the redundancy process.
- RIBA External Examiners have voiced strong concerns regarding the proposed restructuring. The Architects Registration Board (ARB) have said they will monitor the school closely over the next 12 months and will carry out a review of the school and visit to gather feedback from students and staff). The ARB have said they carry out reviews where they have significant concerns regarding their Standards.
- School-wide communications have been sent by the leadership containing HPL staff members personal and non-Greenwich work email addresses.
Motion passed 25th April 2025 by quorate branch meeting
Motion to defend jobs at the University of Greenwich
Branch notes:
The University of Greenwich have launched a redundancy/restructure proposal aimed at achieving a 4% budget reduction which may result in significant job losses especially in, but not necessarily limited to, the Faculty of Engineering and Sciences and among our hourly paid colleagues.
Branch agrees on the basic principles that:
An attack on one is an attack on all. No one should be picked off. Any response should be collective.
Branch resolves to:
1. Take all necessary steps to move into dispute with the university insisting on no compulsory redundancies for any staff including hourly paid and professional services.
2. That there should be a freeze on appointments while this matter is resolved.
3. Set up an action committee to defend our jobs and explore alternatives.