On 2 December 2025, students at Sheffield Hallam University voted in favour of introducing a new priority within the student union (SU) that involves supporting striking staff and lobbying management on the issue of budget cuts. ‘No Cuts’ will be made one of six of Hallam’s SU priorities, an issue which the student union must focus on resolving.
An additional members meeting was called by the student union after over 50 students signed a petition disagreeing with the cuts at Sheffield Hallam University. The meeting was open to students and associate members of the student union. Two votes were held to decide on making ‘No Cuts’ a belief and priority of the student union.
Budget cuts and initial demands
Since 2024, Sheffield Hallam has made budget cuts of £40mn in what they call ‘cost-saving measures’. These measures have resulted in around 1000 staff being lost in the past two years.
The meeting comes after two weeks of strikes by Hallam staff came to an end. Staff struck over Hallam management’s plan to cut another £30mn from their budget by the end of the academic year as well as their reluctance to rule out compulsory redundancies by spring next year, although a new statement on Hallam’s website says they have now ruled this out.
The petition sent out by the student-led coalition, ‘Hallam students against cuts’, included five demands to university management: no staff sacking, no student transfers, no cuts to student services, fully funded and staffed courses, and the protection of international students. The petition also included actions for students, the first being an additional members meeting for the student union to adopt a position on the cuts.
The true effect of the cuts
According to a report by the Hallam University and College Union (UCU), the cuts have caused course modules to be removed, an increase in class sizes, larger staff workloads and more online classes for students. Wait times for disability support allowance can take up to 15 weeks or longer, meaning students may have to wait until the next academic year for 1-1 support. Students worry for the future of their university and the impact of cuts on support services and educational offerings.
Despite this, Sheffield Hallam recently unveiled two new buildings which required them to take out an extra £70mn loan. The university is also planning a satellite campus in Brent Cross London for 2026 and has created new online-only master degree courses. Hallam says these are vital to increase and diversify their income.
What ‘No Cuts’ means for students
The additional members meeting was held at the former student union ‘hubs’ building where students discussed the belief and voted on it.
No cuts: “Students should have fully funded courses, with respect to the individual course, and support services that are adequately staffed, without fear of transfer, with HSU supporting them through the lobbying of SHU management and support of industrial action that defends student interests.”
Students and associate members spoke for two minutes on each of the proposals expressing their frustrations with the management and fears about the future.
“The landscape of Hallam is horrific, courses are being cut silently, loans are being taken out in order to build unnecessary buildings. If these cuts carry on, we won’t have a university.”
“It’s not fair. We have no control over this right now. We should be using our student bodies to push for change in the management because they haven’t been listening to us, they haven’t been protecting us.”
The voting process
‘No Cuts’ passed as a belief with 37/38 votes in favour, and as a priority of the student union with 29/32 votes in favour. Only students could vote.
Sheffield Hallam’s SU can hold multiple beliefs and six belief ‘priorities’ on issues that affect students. A belief is a stance the SU takes on issues impacting students and a priority is a belief that is focused on and attempted to be resolved first.
The outcome means that the student union must adopt ‘No Cuts’ as one of their six priorities. The new priority will replace one of the current six, which will be decided on by student officers at an emergency policy forum.
Individual students voice their support
The founder of ‘Hallam students against cuts’, Juni, a second year engineering student, told me that she had seen a change in module offerings on her course since the first year.
“I’ve seen my module choices go down, I see a difference in the type of support I’m getting. In my second semester [of this year] I can choose between three module choices, in my first year it was five modules, years before that it was ten.”
Juni came up with the idea of a coalition after a meeting with the UCU, using the petition to get more students and student societies on board and convening meetings with those in support to discuss how they can make a difference. She says the aim of the coalition is to put pressure on the management of Sheffield Hallam using what she calls a ‘three-pronged approach’. The approach includes: putting direct pressure on Hallam management, moralising the strikes by the UCU by showing solidarity and informing students about the cuts.
Students and lecturers come together
“The lecturers on the picket line were really overworked. I remember speaking to a lecturer who was talking about how they absolutely loved their subject but because of all the cuts they have been super overwhelmed, especially with admin work, causing them to be less passionate about their subject.”
She said that more lecturers felt encouraged to strike after seeing support from students.
Another member of the coalition told me: “The management at the top have fundamentally different and contradictory interests to us. If we want substantial change, as students, we have to take it into our own hands, we can’t wait for people to hand it to us. We need to take back what was stolen from us, which is effectively our futures.”
The coalition hopes to convene more meetings with unions, organisations and societies to understand issues affecting lecturers and help students get involved in fighting against the cuts.
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