University exam marking boycott is a disgrace

Oxford University put on one of its shows this week. Inside the Oxford Union an old Etonian president conducted a platform interview with Kathleen Stock, a philosophy professor who has been driven out of academia because of her gender critical views. Outside, colourful placard-waving demonstrators on both sides shouted at each other for the news cameras. Oh, and someone tried to glue themselves to the floor.

A self-satisfied good time was had by all. One cheer then for Oxford standing up for free speech. The government’s newly appointed Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom must be delighted. Dr Arif Ahmed is another philosophy professor, this time at Cambridge University.

Away from the performative distractions of the culture wars, nobody seems much bothered by Britain’s longest-running industrial dispute which is further blighting this year’s university leavers across the UK.

This finals exam season the University and College Union (UCU) has ordered a marking and assessment boycott, catchily dubbed “MAB”, in pursuit of better pay and conditions. This means that many students in England, Scotland and Wales will be unable to graduate on time this summer because their papers will not be marked and their lengthy dissertations will go unread. Some of those who can’t graduate will be unable to take up job offers, scholarships, or invitations for further study at home and abroad. (There has been a settlement between the UCU and the University of Ulster.)

Those not making much of a fuss about all this include many of the students themselves, who are usually the first to raise concerns for their own mental health, especially at stressful finals time.

Then there is the UCU which found time at its conference this week to debate Ukraine and Palestine and to censure their General Secretary, Jo Grady, for not fighting hard enough as their action, or rather inaction, charges on effectually. For the government the Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan MP, reliably vociferous on teachers strikes, has washed her hands of the college dispute. With a smile she said it is a matter for the universities involved, although they are powerless to resolve the dispute locally and are often reluctant to mitigate the impact on students.

MAB is hitting the “older universities”, such as Oxford, Cambridge, Durham and Edinburgh, hardest. They make less use of continuous assessment during study and are thus unable and unwilling to estimate classes of degree as a substitute for exams.

In a statement the University of Oxford said: “We regret the impact the UCU’s action is having on some students. We are working to minimise disruption… the overwhelming majority of examinations during the industrial action will go ahead as scheduled” but “regrettably, it is possible that some marks will be delayed.” Those unable to graduate will be given “a document” to explain the situation to potential employers. “The Home Office is expected” to provide guidance soon on visa extensions for international students.

Cambridge academics have voted for a tougher line, opposing attempts to soften the blow on students. Would-be graduates in the politics and sociology faculties have already been notified that they should not expect their results until October at the earliest. That is when the legal mandate for the industrial action is due to expire.

This lack of consideration for their undergraduates left one senior academic I spoke to in a state of despair. They pointed out that the class of young people now trying to graduate have had their education and educational experience repeatedly spoiled thanks to Covid and industrial action by their teachers and students. This cohort were hit by pandemic lockdowns in their last year at school and their first year at college. Most never sat normal A-level exams. Even when face-to-face teaching was permissible at universities, the UCU often insisted it should continue online for a further year for the protection of their members. It is likely that at best those leaving this year will have enjoyed only one “proper” year of university life.

This professor’s frustration with colleagues for intensifying the impact of the action was deepened by a sense of impotence. A university such as Cambridge could easily settle the dispute and improve conditions for its tutors from its reserves but it is unable to do so because binding collective bargaining takes place at national level.

Youthful radicalism and the genuinely poor pay and conditions of some lecturers have meant that student unions have been supportive of the UCU’s strikes, although the latest MAB is testing tempers on some campuses. Students are now paying customers, at a rate of £9,250 a year. Combined with maintenance loans this means that many will be leaving with debts of £45,000. Not surprisingly, some 100,000 former students are now actively considering suing on “value for money” grounds. A test case involving University College London is now going through the courts.

Students are being hurt but they are not the people the lecturers are in dispute with. The employers are still pulling in the tuition fees, while a minority plan to dock the pay of the strikers. This stand-off explains why the various lecturers’ strikes have dragged on for so long and have been so ineffective. Academic intelligence and common sense are not necessarily the same thing.

The UCU’s rights of representation and negotiation are respected across the sector, not that the union gives much priority to improving tertiary education. At its annual conference in Glasgow this week, the dominant faction was “UCU Left”, which is openly aligned to the Socialist Workers Party. Jo Grady was censured, but the latest attempt to vote no confidence in her failed narrowly. Conference also voted for a Stop the War motion “to stop arming Ukraine”, and to continue the pro-Palestine boycott of Israeli academics. It also backed “kicking capitalism out of higher education”, including the abolition of tuition fees. On cue, the Institute of Fiscal Studies published a report finding that wider access to post-16 education and the introduction of university fees have actually been major factors reducing underlying inequalities in British living standards.

Remarkably, the universities I am naming here continue to be ranked as some of the best in the world. They are enduring components of the UK’s soft power and ornaments of national pride. This may not last forever. Britain’s university sector is in trouble. Universities are becoming increasingly dependent on fees from foreign students. Governments alternate between crass interference, such as the downgrading of humanities, and indifference as now to the lecturers’ disputes. The universities themselves are often administered poorly and unprofessionally, with too great a voice given to academics who would be better employed teaching and researching.

Now the students are not getting the education or even the qualifications which they have worked and paid for. This may not seem as important to them right now as posturing about trans rights. In the long run it will matter much more.

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