The start of a national Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB) was notified to employers from 20 April 2023. We hope that the action will bring our employers represented by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) back to the negotiating table with an improved offer on pay and working conditions. So far there has been no movement. UCEA say that working conditions are largely a local issue which have to be negotiated with university management, university management say it is a national issue which is out of their hands.
How does it work?
A marking boycott works by interrupting the processes of the highly commodified degree awarding model that the university management have adopted. It does this by delaying the delivery of grades and graduation. University should be about education, intellectual development and earning a degree rather than simply purchasing a product.
Staff who are participating in the boycott will cease to participate in marking and assessment activity for the duration of the boycott. This is a delay, not a cancellation. Staff will resume when an acceptable offer has been made and the industrial action ends.
It is important to remember that this is a marking boycott, not a learning boycott. Staff will continue to:
- Support potential students who are interested in taking up offers
- Support students who have job applications by writing references giving indications of past and projected performance. You should always contact your personal tutor first before giving their name as referee.
- Support international students on time sensitive visas
- Provide informal advice and feedback on assignments and submissions.
How have the university management responded?
The university has notified that they will only pay 50% of the salary of anyone taking part in the boycott until they return to normal work. This is an excessive and unfair deduction which is designed to punish and intimidate in order to discourage participation in the boycott. Many of our staff are now working as normal except for marking duties but will only receive half pay until the dispute is resolved or the university management agree stop punitive deductions.
The university management team are also planning to invoke emergency measures which were developed in response to the covid crisis. This will see awards which do not accurately reflect student effort and achievement, undermining the value and integrity of degrees awarded at Heriot-Watt campuses in the UK, and also with certifying and accrediting bodies.
In awarding degrees based on incomplete assessment students will be denied the opportunity to demonstrate their full potential. This impact on parity between degrees earned at our different international campuses.
What can students do?
You can help change the direction of this dispute. The university management team are choosing not to use their influence with UCEA to improve the pay and working conditions of staff and end the dispute.
Please write to Malcolm Chrisp (Deputy Principal Education and Student Life) at T.M.Chrisp@hw.ac.uk and ask that university management:
- Pressure UCEA to end the dispute by engaging in meaningful negotiations
- Donate any deducted wages to the student hardship fund
If you feel your course learning outcomes have not been met due to the University’s inaction in appropriately mitigating disruption, you may have cause to submit a formal complaint.