Over 3,700 students offered compensation for delayed graduation

The University of Manchester offered compensation payments to 3,754 students due to delayed 2022/23 graduation results.

Payment offers of £150 were offered to 3,461 students, whilst 293 students were offered £500, a Freedom of Information request filed by The Mancunion has revealed.

This means that University payments could total up to £665,650 in compensation.

The University has not revealed the number of students who took the payment compensation, noting that “we do not hold this information as requests and payments are still being processed.”

In a statement on StaffNet, the University stated that it would offer any student who experienced a delay in receiving their degree award after their graduation ceremony date would be offered £500.

The University also offered £150 to any other students whose delays were resolved before July 11.

In response to the payment offers, the Freedom of Information office said, “These payments were not exclusively [offered] on the basis of the Marking and Assessment Boycott, as there were a number of reasons for delays.

In fact, we can point out, anecdotally, that most of the £150 payments made were not related to the Marking and Assessment Boycott, or at best, very indirectly related.”

There was, however, no comment on what the other reasons for delays in marking were.

The Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB) was conducted by the UCU as part of national strike action.

Members of the UCU were on strike as part of their battle over the Four Fights: pay, equality, workloads, and casualisation.

The MAB began on Thursday, April 20, 2023 and ended on Wednesday, September 6.

Discussing the effect of the MAB on students, Alora, a Philosophy graduate said, “It made graduation and all the work [I did] for the last few months of my degree feel pointless… What’s the point in putting in the effort if the staff aren’t going to match it.”

Following a vote on further strike action which did not reach the minimum turnout, the UCU will not be calling for strike action or further MAB for the remainder of this term.