Limit replays of recorded lectures to a year, says union

UK universities have been warned that they might face industrial action if recorded lectures are reused across different academic years without an academic’s permission.

In new guidance on staff performance rights published on 3 September, the University and College Union (UCU) says education providers should agree to an initial licensing period of no longer than one academic year, although this could be extended with the express consent of the relevant member of staff.

Any failure to abide by this rule, which would also restrict the distribution of recordings to a lecturer’s own students, could lead to strike action, the union said.

The guidance follows concerns over how universities might reuse lectures recorded during the pandemic, after teaching was moved online, or over the coming academic year, with three in five UK higher education institutions set to keep most lectures online this year, according to a Times Higher Education analysis.

The UCU is currently in dispute with the University of Exeter over its performance rights policy, which seeks to retain control over a worker’s recorded material for five years. Staff at other institutions have also raised concerns in recent years over proposals for them to waive intellectual property rights for recorded lectures.

Jo Grady, the UCU’s general secretary, said staff were “rightly worried that employers could use the Covid pandemic as an excuse to record lectures and store them for later use”.

“Staff put a huge amount of effort into creating lectures, and regularly update and adapt them in response to recent events and changes in teaching methods,” Dr Grady continued, adding that “reusing old lectures divorces the material from the context in which it was created, and has the potential to degrade student learning and academic standards”.

There are also concerns that universities could reuse recorded lectures to break industrial disputes in the sector, with the union having stated that strikes are “inevitable” given proposals to make the sector’s main pension scheme less generous.

“We are putting employers on notice that staff are prepared to take action if recorded lectures are reused without proper licensing agreements,” said Dr Grady, who stressed the union’s belief that “every recorded teaching session is the work of that member of staff, and only they can agree how it should be used”.

The UCU is calling on universities to accept that those delivering recorded lectures, seminars and teaching sessions accrue performance rights and copyright over accompanying materials. That is because a lecture is considered to be a “performance” for the purpose of intellectual property law, it says.

Recorded lectures should also not be used to reduce academic staffing numbers or to undermine pay or working conditions, added Dr Grady.

“More students than ever are choosing to enter higher education. Employers need to respond by recruiting and retaining staff so students get the best possible standard of teaching, not by holding on to old recordings and recycling outdated content,” she said.

Raj Jethwa, chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, said institutions had been “advised to review their intellectual property and lecture-capture policies and employee/student contracts on a regular basis to ensure that guidelines in relation to lecture capture accurately reflect their internal procedures”.

“Student experience and education is the primary concern for all higher education institutions, and they will do their very best to provide for and protect students, regardless of circumstance,” he added.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com