A “significant number” of students at Durham University will face delays in receiving their marks and final degree results due to a marking boycott.

Durham University has told students that any remaining work will be marked “as swiftly as possible” and final classifications will be provided “as soon as they are available”.

All final-year students have been invited to graduation ceremonies this summer, but students who cannot receive a final degree at this present time will be offered the opportunity to attend another ceremony later on in the year.

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It comes as university students across the country have voiced fears that their degrees will be “devalued” and their graduations will be delayed due to an ongoing marking and assessment boycott by academics.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) began the boycott at 145 universities across the UK on April 20 in an ongoing dispute over staff pay and working conditions The UCU has said it will continue until employers make an improved offer on pay and working conditions.

On Monday, Durham University began publishing exam and assessment results to students ahead of their graduation ceremonies which start next week (June 29) and run until July 6.

A Durham University spokesman said: “The majority of Durham’s undergraduate students will graduate with a classified degree or an interim award, while, unfortunately, a significant number of students will face delays in receiving all their marks and final classifications.

“We deeply sympathise with our students, already impacted by the pandemic, who now endure further uncertainty and anxiety.

“We are reassuring our students that any remaining work will be marked as swiftly as possible, and we will provide marks and final classifications as soon as they are available.

“We will maintain academic standards and are accountable to the Office for Students on this.   

“We communicate regularly with students and are offering them individual support, including liaising directly with employers or other universities where they are continuing studies."

He added: “All students are invited to ceremonies in Durham Cathedral this summer. We have offered further ceremonies at a later date to those who cannot receive a final degree at the present time.

“It is deeply disappointing that the UCU have implemented a national marking and assessment boycott, and that some of our staff have chosen to take part.

”The impact of the industrial action is concentrated in a few departments.   

“As a university we are part of national pay bargaining. We are caught up in a dispute that affects 145 higher education institutions.  

“The dispute is the result of an aggregated national ballot carried by a narrow majority of UCU members. Although we have made strenuous efforts, in dialogue with the employers’ body, UCEA, to seek a way forward, this is not an issue we can resolve locally. 

“While we deeply appreciate the cost-of-living pressures on all our staff, universities also face significant financial challenges.”  

Last week, Dr Anthony Freeling, acting vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, warned that more than half of its undergraduate final-year students are likely to be impacted by the marking boycott.

He warned that those who needed degrees for international student visas might not be able to start their courses on time, and students may not be able to take up jobs scheduled to start in July.

More than 750 students at Queen’s University Belfast also face graduating without receiving their final degree result this summer due to the boycott.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU, said: “We are seeing the national degree scandal grow and grow, with multiple universities now admitting the marking boycott is having a huge impact.

“Unfortunately, it will continue to worsen every day UCEA (Universities and Colleges Employers Association) refuses to get back round the table.

“The sector can well afford to deal with the low pay that blights higher education. UCEA needs to show it cares about staff and students, improve its pay offer and end the dispute.”

Raj Jethwa, chief executive of the UCEA , said: “It is awful for those students unable to graduate because of UCU’s boycott.”

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He added: “While there is no more we can offer on pay, UCEA remains committed to negotiations with UCU and the other trade unions, on the basis of the Acas proposals.

“These cover action in important areas, including the pay spine; use of contract types and improving job security; workload and further reducing the gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps in the sector.

“We urge UCU to pause its boycott, accept the Acas terms of reference and come back to the negotiating table.”