Academics not participating in the UK’s marking boycott have had to put aside their research to ensure papers are marked in time for students to graduate, the vice-chancellor who chairs the employer body has claimed.
George Boyne, principal of the University of Aberdeen and chair of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (Ucea), said his students were all graduating as normal this week with “fully classified degrees because all of their work has been marked”.
“That’s not to say that there hasn’t been a huge effort to get to this point and there have been negative consequences for some groups in our community, starting with the students who, for some time, could not be completely sure that they would graduate as normal – so there was some stress”, he said.
“There has also been extra work for colleagues who have stood up and done the marking,” Professor Boyne said during a briefing on the situation, accusing those participating in the boycott of placing a “burden” on the rest of the academic community.
