When 22-year-old American student Amelia Dias completed her final year of studying international relations and law at the University of Edinburgh this summer, she was handed an apology letter instead of a degree certificate.
The letter told Dias that, as Edinburgh was among the more than 100 British universities hit by a staff boycott of marking and assessment this year, the assignments she had completed had not all been graded, and it could not award her a degree.
Without that degree, for which she paid around 80,000 pounds ($102,792) in tuition fees, she cannot apply for the graduate visa she needs to stay in the country, throwing into doubt the job in sales she had been due to start in London next month.
Dias is one of tens of thousands of students across Britain who have been impacted by the months-long assessment boycott by staff in a dispute over pay and working conditions which has seen classes, exams and now graduations disrupted.
Left in limbo, with little clarity on when the situation may be resolved, many cannot take up job offers or progress to postgraduate study, and international students whose visas are coming to an end face having to return home.
Dias, from Florida, told Reuters her immigration position was becoming more precarious. She could extend her existing visa until January, for a fee, but does not yet know whether that will be enough for her prospective employer.
