University marking boycott: government urges both sides to negotiate

Both sides in a university pay row that has left tens of thousands of students without their degree results have been urged by the government to enter negotiations to settle the dispute.

The education minister, Robert Halfon, has written to university employers and the union behind the marking and assessment boycott to say how “deeply concerned” he was about the impact of the row on students.

The boycott, which affected students at 145 universities, was part of a pay dispute between the University and College Union (UCU) and the University and College Employers Association (UCEA).

In separate letters to the heads of both organisations, Halfon said: “I strongly urge both UCU and UCEA to resume negotiations, which I hope, if successful, will bring an end to the boycott and further action.”

The union, which welcomed Halfon’s intervention, says the employers were refusing to settle the dispute by insisting that they would not improve their pay offer, while continuing to dock the pay of lecturers who have taken part in the marking boycott.

The UCU is due to hold an emergency meeting on Monday to decide its next steps in the dispute.

In his letters, Halfon pointed out that the government had no formal role in resolving the dispute, but pleading to both sides, he said: “It is unacceptable that students, many of whom have already suffered significant disruption to their studies over recent years, face further disruption and uncertainty. This disruption is particularly damaging to those students who are due to graduate and looking to enter the jobs market or progress to further study.”

The refusal of UCU member to mark final exams, dissertations and coursework since April has led most universities to issue provisional results or certificates to allow students to graduate on time. Affected students have been told that their class of degree will be issued only when the assessments are completed in several months.

In his letter to Raj Jethwa, chief executive of the UCEA, Halfon said: “It is imperative that higher education providers and their staff continue to do all they can to minimise disruption and provide clarity to their students. This means that all students who are eligible should be able to graduate as soon as possible, enabling them to continue to enter planned graduate employment or postgraduate study. Wherever possible, I would encourage higher education providers to award degrees when they have enough evidence of a student’s prior attainment to do so.”

In his letter to Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU, he said: “Whatever the rights and wrongs of the current dispute, action that damages students’ prospects is the wrong thing to do.”

Grady said: “I’m glad to see the government has taken notice of the crisis our members and university students are facing. We’ve done everything possible to settle this dispute, protect UK degree standards and students’ graduations, including calling for the talks to restart in the first place.

“Unfortunately, UCEA, and university bosses have made it clear they would rather throw students under the bus than settle this dispute. If Robert Halfon wants to see change, he needs to get UCEA to use the sector’s huge wealth to support staff and allow students to graduate.”

The UCEA said it was continuing to meet union officials to try to settle the dispute.

Jethwa said: “UCEA believes there is a clear need to reset industrial relations and to end the cycle of industrial action in higher education. However, significant changes to the sector’s funding model over the last decade have placed increasing strain on industrial relations in recent years.

“To that end, UCEA has suggested an independent facilitated review of sector finances and the trade unions have stated their agreement. UCEA has suggested a joint approach to Acas for facilitation of these talks and is awaiting the trade unions’ response to this proposal.”

He added: “This year’s pay uplift of 5%-8% prioritised the disproportionate effect of high inflation falling on the lower-paid.”

Earlier this month, Halfon ruled out raising the £9,250 cap on the tuition fees that universities charge students.