UCU marking and assessment boycott: further information, May 2023

Dear colleagues, 

I am writing to provide an update on how we are responding to the University and College Union (UCU)’s marking and assessment boycott. This includes further information about our support for students, our mitigations for the impact of the boycott on them, and our ongoing conversations with our recognised unions.

Supporting our students

Our priority is to do all that we can to mitigate the impact on students’ educational outcomes and to support their wellbeing throughout this challenging time. While the vast majority of staff will be assessing, marking and processing as usual, the impact will vary according to course and department and we know that this period of uncertainty will be unsettling for some students.

We have been communicating directly with students and updating our FAQs regularly as we develop further guidance. We will shortly be sharing further information with them about the mitigations that are in place to minimise any impact of the boycott. We have also made clear that their department is the key point of contact for the most up to date information about their modules and course.

We have set up an Examinations and Assessments Contingency Panel (EACP), with representation from across UCL, including the Students’ Union UCL Education Sabbatical Officer. The panel has been working since January to develop guidance for Boards of Examiners and to help ensure that students who are affected can graduate or progress on time, and that their degree outcome is an accurate reflection of their academic achievement.

The EACP has been communicating regularly with Faculty Education Teams to support colleagues as they attempt to manage the impact of the boycott on assessment, progression and award. Further guidance is being developed to provide additional information to support Boards of Examiners, and this will be shared next week with Faculty Education Teams and Boards of Examiners. 

The guidance will include the following information about the role of EACP. 

The purpose of the panel is to provide guidance to Boards of Examiners and to help ensure that students are not disadvantaged by industrial action. The panel is tasked with the following: 

• To do everything possible to ensure students who are affected can graduate or progress on time and that their degree is an accurate reflection of their academic achievement.
• To support Boards of Examiners because they are in the best position to determine whether learning outcomes and any requirements from professional bodies have been met. 
• To ensure that where Boards of Examiners are confident that students have met programme requirements overall, they are able to award degrees and degree classifications (and approve progression) even where there are some missing marks. 
• To consider all individual cases that fall outside of our general guidance to ensure we are consistent and fair to all students across UCL. 

In addition: 

• All marks received by the deadline for processing results will be considered in the normal way when making decisions about progression and awards.
• Marks received after an award has been issued will be provided to the student and a new transcript issued. 
• If marks are received late and added to the transcript, and they improve the original classification, the new classification will stand and the award reissued. 
• Degree classifications cannot be downgraded. 

In a minority of cases, some students might experience delays in receiving some of their marks. Nonetheless, all students who have submitted assessments are entitled to receive marks and feedback on that work at some point, even if not in the original timescales. We have already made clear that once participation in the marking and assessment boycott has ended, staff will be required to prioritise above all other duties their outstanding marking, submitting the marks, and returning the marks/feedback to students. This will be done in a reasonable timescale as agreed with the Head of Department. 

Working with our recognised unions 

We are committed to working with our recognised unions and are working hard to try to find a resolution to the issues they have raised. As part of our ongoing discussions and our commitment to continue to work collaboratively, we recently extended the declaration for staff to declare their participation in the boycott to 9 June. We encourage staff to inform their line manager informally that they are taking part in the boycott, as this can help departments to mitigate the impact on students.

We are also taking action on a number of key issues including staff pay, pensions, job security, workload, pay gap and equality. For more information on how we are supporting our community and working with our union colleagues please see the UCL HR website.

We will keep you updated with these ongoing discussions and are also regularly updating our marking and assessment boycott FAQs. Please continue to let us know if you have any further queries that we have not addressed by contacting the Employment Policy Team (employmentpolicy@ucl.ac.uk).

Best wishes,
Donna Dalrymple, Chief People Officer