Student dissertations may not be marked

EDINBURGH University final-year students have been told that some dissertations might not be marked before graduations because of lecturer strikes.

The university is facing a backlash from students after it confirmed that many hours spent on writing and research could be discounted from their initial degree results.

Meanwhile, academics have warned of a return to Covid-era grade inflation because of the university’s proposed exam policies, which would mean that if dissertations or assessments are marked after graduation, any previous degree award can only be improved.

The row comes amid a national marking and assessment boycott by the University College Union (UCU), which began on April 20 in protest over lecturers’ pay and working conditions.

Edinburgh University has told students that it plans to introduce temporary changes to marking policies because of the boycott. Ollie Lewis, 22, a final-year politics student who has submitted a 10,000-word thesis, said that if dissertations are not marked, students “will feel completely betrayed”.

Students in their final year at the university have faced major disruption to their studies because of the pandemic and rounds of UCU strikes since 2018.

Scottish students receive a free university education. However, final-year undergraduate students from elsewhere in the UK have paid as much as £37,000 in tuition fees.

Sam Maccallum, of the Edinburgh University Students’ Association, said it recognises “the complexity of feeling that many final-year students have for the university after facing two years of a pandemic on top of industrial action”.

The student added: “For students like me, who are graduating this year, this is a particularly stressful situation in the lead-up to our final deadlines.

“I am hopeful that the university will minimise any further disruption to students, while allowing staff the ability to rightfully withhold their labour from their employer.”

One tutor said that the institution was putting pressure on staff to bring in a more extreme version of its “no detriment” policy from 2020.

A University of Edinburgh spokesman said: “Marking and returning marks on assessed work is being treated with the highest possible priority.

“At Edinburgh, the boycott is being taken by a small proportion of staff in some academic areas.”

‘For students like me, who are graduating this year, this is a stressful situation in the lead-up to our finals’