Uni of Edinburgh confirms 25 days of strike action over five weeks, affecting Welcome Week

Staff at the University of Edinburgh are set to strike for 25 days over five weeks, running from September 28th until October 30th. 

This announcement from University and College Union (UCU) Scotland comes after extended disputes over “£140m cuts and an estimated 1,800 job losses” at the university announced by the principal, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson in early 2025. 

The cuts mentioned are the largest cut in staff seen in Scottish higher education and follow confirmation from the university that there was no financial deficit in funds. 

The disputes started in February 2025

The UCU claims it has been communicating with the university over the summer to work towards an agreement to avoid strike action, however “several key demands” were not met, as the university refused to rule out compulsory redundancies. 

UCU Edinburgh branch co-secretary Nik Matheou said: “Staff are facing increased workloads, the threat of redundancies, and continuing uncertainty created by restructures and cuts. We have given management another opportunity to avoid the strikes.” and that the UCU is “ready to continue to negotiate and hope management will now come forward with a serious proposal.”

Principal Peter Mathieson said he was ‘extremely disappointed’

In response, university principal Peter Mathieson said: “We are extremely disappointed that, despite ongoing discussions, the University and College Union has given notification of five weeks’ strike action, which will unfairly and deliberately target students’ first semester of the academic year.

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“I want to assure our students that our priority is to minimise disruption to their teaching, and we will continue to support them as best as we can. 

“While we recognise the right our staff have to take this action, we will continue to do everything we can to mitigate the impacts of that action on our students.

“In addition, we remain firmly committed to constructive and transparent engagement with our joint unions. To maintain the University’s position as a world-class institution with a vital role in Scotland’s economic and civic life, we must take responsible, sometimes difficult, decisions to secure its future.”

In an email sent to Edinburgh University students by Lucy Evans, Associate Principal and Deputy Secretary, students are informed “staff are not obliged to tell us if they plan to take part, which means we cannot tell you who is or is not.”

It continued: “We appreciate this is difficult, especially to hear this during Welcome Week, but we wanted to inform you as soon as we received notification of the action.

“Please work on the basis that your studies will continue as normal and attend your teaching sessions as planned”.

Find out more about the industrial action set to start in week two of teaching by accessing the university’s student industrial action FAQs here.