Goldsmiths MFA Students Seek Tuition Refunds

Master of fine art (MFA) students at Goldsmiths, University of London, are formally requesting compensation for lost learning after 21 weeks of industrial disruption. The group argues that the ongoing strike has rendered their expensive coursework largely inaccessible, forcing them to seek financial redress from the institution.

The impact on the MFA cohort is severe because 10 of the program's usual 12 tutors are taking strike action. Florence Sweeney, a part-time student, stated that many fine art students have received virtually no teaching this term. She described the situation as a financial drain, noting that classmates have become distressed, anxious, and in some cases depressed. Some students traveled from other countries only to find themselves without proper welcome briefings.

The financial stakes are high for the participants. The two-year course charges full-time UK students nearly £15,000 per year and £33,000 for international students. John Carver, a part-time second-year student, suspended his studies after a departmental meeting at the start of the term. He praised the regular tutors but criticized the replacements for lacking knowledge of the student body. James Evans, an international student from the US, said visa and funding restrictions forced him to remain enrolled. He reported receiving no marks on projects from last year and described this term as having no structure or adequate communication.

The dispute is part of a wider industrial conflict at the university that began in April as a staff marking boycott over proposed job cuts. Management deducted 100% of the pay of participating staff, a move the University and College Union (UCU) argued amounted to a lockout. Following a formal ballot, a group of UCU members has been on indefinite strike since early June. Joe Newman, co-president of the Goldsmiths UCU branch, said the action responds to the scale and speed of management's proposed cuts. He reported that students were largely supportive and mostly aghast when told the reasons for the strike.

Goldsmiths faces financial pressure from falling applications in core humanities subjects and the erosion of domestic tuition fees. One staff member described the resulting environment as featuring non-stop rounds of redundancies and restructuring. The university maintains that only about 8.5% of staff are on strike, leaving most students unaffected. A spokesperson said the institution offered compromises, including a pause on compulsory redundancies, but will not drop the pay deductions for the marking boycott. The university cited large sums spent to ease the impact on students and warned that continued disruption risks harming its long-term reputation.

Students at a recent gathering expressed frustration with the current state of affairs. One international student told reporters that induction sessions frequently turned into discussions about the strike. The student, who was excited to start studies at Goldsmiths, described the experience on arrival as shocking. The university says it is offering regular updates, meetings with schools, and other support to affected students as the dispute continues.