  The impact of strikes in educational institutions, specifically universities,
on employers remains understudied. This paper investigates the impact of
education strikes in UK universities from 2018 to 2022, primarily due to
pension disputes. Using data from the Guardian University Guide and the 2014
and 2021 Research Excellence Frameworks and leveraging
difference-in-differences and regression discontinuity approaches, our findings
suggest significant declines in several student related outcomes, such as
student satisfaction, and a more mixed picture for student attainment and
research performance. These results highlight the substantial, albeit indirect,
cost unions can impose on university employers during strikes.
