What’s happening with progression and graduation?

This is a quick update on the current state of the Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB). For a digest in four slides, see our instagram post.

The Senior Executive Team (SET) at QMUL has been downplaying the impact of this boycott for months. Instead of calling for negotiations to address the problems in Higher Education, they have tried to neutralise the Marking & Assessment Boycott through (1) punitive deductions (42 days of full pay withheld, sometimes for just a couple of essays; few can afford that financial hit) and (2) replacement marking for finalists and erasing all quality assurances for other years (Examination Boards rubber stamped papers without students knowing if they have resits, if they can go abroad, if they can pass). QMUCU outlines the state of Academic Standards to the university’s governing body (Council) here.

A fortnight before graduation ceremonies are about to take place, SET emailed finalists to let them know a number of students in the School of English and Drama will have their graduation delayed. The email states that it is ‘only some students on this programme [SED] that are affected’.  The reassurance that it is “only” these students who are affected will be of little comfort to them, and does not give a true indication of the wider picture, which extends beyond these students.

Reducing the number of impacted students to the delayed graduations also underplays the broader educational experience. Other finalists may attend graduation parties, but they will receive grades that do not match their achievement because the ‘replacement marker’ didn’t know what was discussed and agreed in class and supervision across the year. Even more got feedback from ‘replacement markers’ that is vague and doesn’t recognise the particular scholarly interventions because of the markers’ lack of expert knowledge. And that is only for the case of finalists. First- and second-years do not have any information at all. There are thousands of marks outstanding, and students have not been informed adequately. The Examination Boards simply lowered the benchmark for progressing to create a façade that all is going as normal. But these students won’t know if they need to take Late Summer Resits, they won’t know if they have the grades to enter particular modules next year, they may need those grades to be accepted in study-abroad programmes. SET only put pressure on Schools to ‘deliver’ the graduates by getting any marks for finalists into the system to let the parties go ahead at the end of July. SET’s belated communication to students with an almost jubilant ‘only a few are affected’ dismisses the experiences of many.

This is an institutional crisis waiting to happen. In other universities, senior managers have called upon UCEA to return to negotiations, and/or have delayed all graduations. At QMUL, SET has chosen to sacrifice finalists from one School in order to downplay the broader impact. SET has pushed immediate consequences of this decision onto Schools who will have to resolve how to progress students, how to ensure they can go abroad, etc. in the coming weeks.

The unsustainable state of Higher Education needs to be resolved in the long term, for cohorts of future students will suffer under ever more pressure on staff. The boycott is an attempt to get the employers’ association (UCEA) to address the unsustainable state of UK Higher Education, with rampant casualisation, unhealthy levels of overwork, and spiralling student-staff ratios that result in diminishing support for students. Despite years of attempting to get employers to take this seriously through talks and escalation into strikes, UCEA has refused to acknowledge this reality, hence the drastic action of shutting down the ‘grade factory model’ of Higher Education. Staff don’t do this lightly, they know and are deeply worried about how this affects students. But the increasing work pressure that falls on staff to try to protect students from the worst of marketised Higher Education affects students in the longer term. Everybody hoped UCEA would see sense before it was too late.

What could students do?

There is a lot more that students can do than you may realise. The actions taken by the Senior Executive Team have been taken in the name of students, but seldom with students. Here are some things students are undertaking:

• Some School groups are organising against mitigations that their particular School has put in place. Check in on your School whatsapp group or your fellow students to hear what is in the works.
• Students can appeal their grades. Community Solidarity created a helpful guide to do so.
• Lancaster has explained how students can make a case for partial refunds.
• Tell the the QMUL Student Union what is going on. The QMSU represents students, and enabling them to tell management how many students contacted them about the situation will give them more power to intervene. The Student Union prefers to be contacted on su-representation@qmul.ac.uk. 
• The SU Academic Advice and Advocacy service can help with discussing appeals and reviews
• Sign the open letter calling on the Principal to put deducted wages in the students hardship fund
• Sign the open letter calling on the Senior Executive Team to help settle the dispute for the sake of staff and students, not undermine it.
• Reach out to journalists. Journalists are interested in what is happening, but need real-life stories to get the report past their editors. Tag them on social media, talk to your networks, let your voice matter. 

Some further info:

• Blogpost about the wider industrial action. 
• Blogpost at the start of the boycott with info what it is for and what students can do.
• Blogpost about local strike days.
• Letter to Council about the state of Academic Standards.