Students in a Welsh university have shared their fears of graduating without knowing their grades due to a union marking boycott. The marking and assessment boycott is the latest action short of striking by the University and College Union in their ongoing UK-wide pay and working conditions dispute.
“I know that I’m certainly not enjoying the uncertainty because it does impact what I end up doing next year,” said Cardiff Labour Students president Zacchaeus Hayward. “It is very difficult because there’s a fair few of us including myself who might graduate without knowing their grades.”
Students have been stuck in the tussle between employers and the UCU since November last year when the union announced its first strike action over nation-wide pay conditions and pension cuts.
Bethany, a first-year undergraduate student at Cardiff University, said: “I already had to resit my A levels to get into university. Then when I came here, it was a bit upsetting to find out that finally getting into university after Covid and everything, I don't have lectures on or I don't have seminars on.”
Students who are due to graduate this year have reported difficulty applying for jobs and for higher education courses which are grade specific. Alice, a final year undergraduate student at Cardiff University, said: “Now that I'm submitting CVs, a lot of places need specific grades of all of my modules and a full breakdown of everything, but I can't give it to them.”
