University may hire Australian exam markers as strikes loom

UNIVERSITIES are in talks to hire exam markers from Australia as lecturer strikes put graduations in jeopardy.

A boycott of marking essays and exams has been called at 22 universities as part of the University and College Union’s latest round of strikes in a bitter four-year stand-off with bosses.

The union has warned it “could stop hundreds of thousands of students from graduating” this summer, prompting fury from undergraduates fed up after Covid and strike-related disruption.

University chiefs are scrambling to draw up contingency plans, with Queen Mary University of London allegedly considering hiring Curio, an Australian higher education consultancy firm, to give students their grades instead.

UCU’S branch for the Russell Group university said bringing in outside staff “would undermine academic standards and devalue QMUL degrees”.

Meanwhile, at Newcastle University, bosses have introduced a “no detriment” safety net policy which gives students their average mark from across the year rather than their exam marks if their assessments are boycotted.

However, last night some branches scrapped their boycotts at the last minute. This included Durham University, where 1,000 students were threatening to withhold their tuition fees and staff had been offered a £1,000 one-off payment if they refused to strike.

Raj Jethwa, chief executive of UCEA, said: “HE institutions have a duty to protect students and they are legally entitled to withhold pay.”

Curio, which was paid £10,500 by Queen Mary in 2020 to help it transition to online learning, has been contacted for comment.