UCU Industrial Action: What Marking Boycott?

The rejection of the pay and conditions proposals by UCU members means a marking and assessment boycott has been in place at 145 UK universities (including Royal Holloway) since Thursday 20 April.

The marking boycott means that UCU members could refuse to undertake marking or assessment duties, including setting, marking, and providing feedback on exams, coursework, and dissertations. While this could affect your education, the University is taking proactive measures to mitigate the potential impact and you should continue to complete assessments and attend exams as usual.

Why a marking boycott?

UCU members remain dedicated to quality education and appropriate support for their students, but industrial action can include ‘action short of strike’, such as marking and assessment boycotts like this.

What’s Royal Holloway doing about this?

The University has confirmed that at Royal Holloway, exam dates and assessment deadlines will not be impacted by the boycott. They have also put mitigations in place to ensure graduations continue as planned.

The University will be keeping the Student Intranet up to date with information and news related to UCU and proposed industrial action.

What’s the Students’ Union doing about this?

We’re in regular communication with relevant stakeholders, which includes students, the University, and UCU members. Royal Holloway is committed to ensuring that students receive the support they need during this time of uncertainty. We will be providing regular updates and clear communication to students regarding the status of the situation.

Furthermore, it’s our responsibility to act in the interests of our membership so we are hosting a preferendum so that our stance on the UCU industrial action is decided by you.

What can you do as a student?

VOTE!

It's important to have your say in the UCU Preferendum between Tuesday 2 May - Thursday 4 May so that we can accurately represent you.