Thursday 20-04-2023 - 10:35

From Thursday 20 April, members of the University and College Union (UCU) are undertaking a Marking and Assessment Boycott as their latest Action Short of a Strike in the ongoing dispute over pay and working conditions. This will see lecturers who are members of the UCU cease all marking and assessment that contributes towards students’ final grades across undergraduate and postgraduate courses indefinitely.

 

This comes after 56% of UCU members voted to reject proposals for a deal on pay and conditions. Lecturers are often on insecure contracts with inconsistent pay, and are often expected to work beyond the remit of their contract. The UCU hopes that this disruptive action will push universities closer to a deal that they can agree to. The boycott is planned to continue until a deal is reached in the dispute.

 

Edge Hill University's UCU branch gave this statement in regards to the Marking and Assessment Boycott:

 

"In the recent consultation on the current pay and conditions offer, 56% of UCU members rejected the proposals as not going far enough. For context, the pay offer for university staff was 5% until August 2024, while current rate of inflation remains above 10%, with food inflation significantly higher. In reality, therefore, university employers have implemented yet another pay cut for staff, after over a decade of pay degradation across the sector. This is simply unacceptable, also given the deteriorating working conditions that include ever-increasing workloads leading to stress, burnout and low morale. All these factors have an impact of students’ learning conditions so this dispute is about the future for all of us. 

 

In the circumstances, and with the renewed mandate for industrial action, UCU has called for a national Marking and Assessment Boycott, starting today, 20th April 2023. It is regrettable, but so is the employers’ position. We hope that the universities’ representative body UCEA returns swiftly to the negotiations and agree an offer on pay and conditions that shows that university staff are valued and respected, and that allows us all to go back to working with our students on their academic progression. 

EHU UCU Branch Committee
20th April 2023"

 

While as a union, we support the right to fight for better conditions, this comes at a particularly impactful time for the students that we represent. We hope that universities put forward an adequate deal and that a resolution can be found quickly, so that our great university staff can be more secure in their work, and students’ academic lives can continue without disruption.

 

We have received several questions from students concerned about their graduation being affected. As such, we reached out to the University's Pro Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience) to seek reassurance. She told us that the university is committed to seeking to ensure that students can progress and graduate as planned. The University anticipates the impact on individual students will be minimal, and that they have Temporary Regulations in place to allow Assessment and Award Boards to proceed as planned. 

 
She pointed us to the information at the University's Student Homepage, which says: 

 

"The University is currently monitoring the impact of the MAB at Edge Hill and we anticipate that any disruption will be minimal. Exams and assessments will take place as normal and you should continue to prepare for your exams and submit your assignments as planned.

In any circumstances where your work has not been marked in the usual way, we want to assure all students that we have a set of Temporary Regulations in place which will enable us to consider any individual cases to ensure, wherever possible, that students can progress and complete their studies as planned."

 
The Temporary Regulations are also published at the Student Homepage, and can be found here. They contain the following guidance:
 

TEMPORARY ADJUSTMENTS TO UNIVERSITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PROGRESSION AND GRADUATION IN THE EVENT OF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES

 

1. Where marks are missing, and notional or hypothecated marks are used to arrive at an overall result then that result will be on a “no detriment” basis – ie: if marks subsequently become available then any provisional results will either be confirmed or raised but not lowered.
2. Where the mark awarded by a first marker exists but the usual marks moderation process cannot take place as a result of extraordinary circumstances, then the existing unmoderated mark will be used with the provision that students who feel they may have been disadvantaged will have the right to ask for the normal marks moderation procedures to be applied (on a “no detriment” basis) should circumstances normalise.
3. Every effort will be made to apply these procedures across the range of provision at the University. In some instances however, Professional and Statutory Body (PSB) requirements will necessarily override these Regulations.

 

The University has a complaints procedure that can be found here. First though, you should speak to your personal tutor or course leaders informally to enquire what the department is doing to ensure any impact on study is minimised. If you wish to continue with a formal complaint, you will need to email your personal tutor or course leader outlining how you have been affected, and ask them what the department is doing to minimise disruption. You can title your email subject line with "Stage 1 Complaint". 

If you have already spoken to your course leader or personal tutor to try to resolve the matter informally, you are able to go directly to the stage 2 formal complaint by completing the complaint form and drafting a statement.

 

Your statement should clearly outline:

• How your studies have been affected
• The steps you took to try to resolve the matter informally (speaking to your course leader)
• What you would like to see as an acceptable outcome to your complaint

 

Once you have recieved a response from the University, you might want to further your complaint with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) - the independent body that mediates disputes in Higher Eduction. You’ll be given more info on this from the University as part of the formal complaints procedure. The OIA has specific info for students, which you can find on their website: How to complain to us - OIAHE.

 

If your ability to study, complete coursework or exam performance is negatively affected by external factors outside your control this is known as a “Personal circumstance”. As a student at Edge Hill University, if your performance is, or is likely to be affected by outside factors, you have the right to ask for those to be taken into account when your work is being assessed. It is essential to let the University know as soon as you can about any issues so that they can be taken into account when decisions are made about matters such as time extensions, academic results or progression. If you feel the industrial action is negatively affecting your ability to study, complete coursework or exam performance, you may therefore want to go down this route.

Information (and the online form) for the personal circumstance procedure can be found here.

 

If you need any help on a complaint or personal circumatances submission, EHSU’s advice team can help. Just book an appointment via our website. 

 

If you want to learn more about the boycott, the UCU has an FAQ page here, and resources for students wanting to understand and support their lecturers here.

 

This was updated at 2:15pm Thursday 20 April with a statement from EHU UCU Branch Committee, and at 11:00am Tuesday 2 May, and 2:10pm Friday 5 May with information from the University.