UoM to give some final year students £500 due to UCU boycott

The University of Manchester announced today (July 5) that students who will not receive their final degree classification before graduation due to the University and College Union’s (UCU) Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB) will receive £500 “in recognition of the distress and inconvenience” caused by the delay.

Students affected by the boycott received one of two emails today approximately between 1pm and 2pm BST.

The first one, sent around 1pm, informed students that although not all of their work had been marked they would still be able to graduate.

In an email seen by The Mancunion, recipients were told that:

“I can confirm that unfortunately not all of your work has been marked, though we have received sufficient marks to give us assurance about academic standards so the marks we do hold for you will be considered by an exam board. Your results will be uploaded by the end of the day today.”

Students in this category will receive a payment of £150 “in recognition of your marks being uploaded a day later than planned, and the inconvenience and concern this may have caused”.

In the second email, sent at approximately 2pm, a second set of students were informed that due to the MAB they did not have sufficient marks to graduate with a degree classification, stating:

“Regrettably, I can confirm that we do not currently have sufficient marks for an exam board to consider your award.

It is our priority to ensure that all outstanding assessments and coursework are marked as soon as possible, so we can provide a full and final degree classification for all students who are due to complete their course.

As soon as your award has been considered at an exam board, we will issue you with a digital copy of your certificate and transcript, so that you will have official confirmation of your award immediately. We will send you a copy of your certificate in the post, to the address we hold in MyManchester.”

Students in this position will have their £150 payment increased to £500 if they do not receive their marks before graduation ceremonies begin on July 11.

Yesterday (July 4), the University emailed students confirming degree classification will be impacted by the MAB and all students who had their results delayed from July 4 to July 5 would receive £150 in compensation.

Some students have received enough, but not all, of their final marks to graduate with a degree classification whilst other have been completely unaffected by the boycott.

The University claimed “of more than 11,400 students due to graduate this summer, less than 3% have been identified as having insufficient marks for an exam board to consider an award” meaning these  students will not graduate with a final degree classification.

The University and the University of Manchester Students’ Union have confirmed that all work submitted during the boycott will be marked eventually but have not provided a timeline for when this might happen.

Further information can be found on Student News and on the Students’ Union website.

The University of Manchester and University of Manchester Students’ Union have been contacted for additional comments.