The Edinburgh branch of the University and College Union (UCU) has warned that thousands of students may not graduate “with a full set of marks” this summer.
In a Twitter thread posted on Thursday, UCU Edinburgh declared that more than 90 per cent of dissertations and 80 per cent of coursework submissions had not been assessed in some parts of the university.
Speaking to The Student, UCU Edinburgh said: “This is a crisis that didn’t need to happen, if only university leaders had taken staff concerns about pay and working conditions seriously.
With degree ceremonies looming, a huge amount of work is unmarked, but university leaders are pushing through degree classifications in a reckless attempt to break the strike, with students are paying the price. 2/9 pic.twitter.com/XjzDJJOuuW
— UCU Edinburgh (@ucuedinburgh) June 8, 2023
“They should call on UCEA to resume negotiations as soon as possible.”
After students raised concerns about being unable to graduate, the university introduced a minimum classification guarantee, where work marked post-boycott will only count if it raises a student’s degree class.
In their statement on Twitter, UCU Edinburgh described the policy as a “no-detriment” policy, and that the university was pressuring “subject heads to find non-specialists to mark work affected by the boycott”.
“University leaders are pushing through degree classifications in a reckless attempt to break the strike with students paying the price.”
In a statement to The Student, the University of Edinburgh denied that the policy was a no-detriment policy.
Is this what gets you a 40 grand pay rise?? 8/9 pic.twitter.com/9GmGQ71ep6
— UCU Edinburgh (@ucuedinburgh) June 8, 2023
UCU Edinburgh’s Twitter thread continued to describe the outrage directed at the university, pointing out that over 1000 students at Edinburgh had signed an open letter calling for the action to end.
In a statement to The Student, a University of Edinburgh spokesperson said: “We are acutely aware that the disruption caused by the marking and assessment boycott is placing a high level of stress on our community”.
“The University has academically robust measures in place to reduce the impact of industrial action and ensure students’ ability to progress and graduate is not compromised”.
The statement continued to say that the university “expects that most students will receive marks for their degree, or progression in their degree, as in any other year.
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“In [cases where students] are impacted by the boycott we may only be able to define a provisional award”.
“We have committed to ensuring that all marks are accounted for and once any missing marks are available, students’ results can only improve on their provisional grade.”
Responding to concerns that work would be marked by non-specialists, the University emphasised that “all exams and assessments will be marked by those who set the assessment should they decide to end the boycott or by qualified academic experts from the university in the relevant fields”.
“Dissertation” by Sean MacEntee is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
