Friday 15-09-2023 - 09:13

 

 

Over the past 4 months there has been a Marking & Assessment Boycott (MAB) undertaken by the University & College Union (UCU) – this was withdrawn last week by the UCU.

 

We know a lot of you have been significantly affected by this, and we thank you all for your understanding and patience during what has been a difficult time for all. We are especially thankful to the Academic Reps, and the previous Full Time Officer Team, who both worked tirelessly to make sure students got the best deal possible.

Since its withdrawal our VP Education has been working with the University to confirm a timeline for the completion of any marking that was put on hold. We can now confirm that all marks will be released to all affected students by the 31st of October (Halloween). This timeframe will ensure that all marking can completed by those who would usually do it, and to the high standard expected. Anyone who was a final year in the academic year 22/23 will maintain access to their university email, Moodle, and student portal until the end of Michaelmas term; this will ensure that you are easily able to contact the University and vice versa.

If you were asked to do a precautionary resit because the department was unsure if you would be passing then we can confirm that you can take the higher mark from your first sit, or resit. If this raises your degree classification, then the university will be able to reissue your degree!

For our continuing students, if after the MAB backlog has been marked, you have failed your previous year, you will be able to do an in-year resit. This will not have affected your progression due to the “No Detriments” policy committed to by the University.

We know that many graduates will be asking about what this means for their intermediate degrees. Our VP Education, Sam, who has first-hand experience with this (graduating with a “Physical Sciences” degree instead of Physics!) immediately asked “What now?”. Departments who could not come to an agreement with their Professional Standards Regulatory Bodies (PSRBs) gave out intermediate degrees at the end of last year accredited by the university but not by the PSRBs. If you received such a degree, you would now fall into one of four categories:

 

• If you have passed the requirements set by your PSRB then the University will revoke the intermediate degree and reissue the accredited degree.
• If you did not pass all the PSRB requirements but you are happy with the non-accredited award, then the University is happy to leave you with your university accredited degree.
• If you have passed the PSBR requirements, but your award classification has been reduced because of newly marked work then they will be offered either to take the lower classification accredited degree or stick with the non-PSRB accredited degree.
• And finally, if you have not passed all the PSRB requirements but would like a PSRB accredited degree. The University will offer you an additional resit opportunity. If you pass everything, then they will have a PSRB-accredited degree issued. If you don’t pass everything upon a resit, then you will be allowed to keep your non-PSRB intermediate degree permanently.

 

We have made the below flow diagram to hopefully clear things up for you:

We know that this can all be very overwhelming and we thank you all for your understanding around the Marking & Assessment Boycott. If you have any concerns or queries, feel free to raise them with us through our VP Education’s email: su.vp.education@lancaster.ac.uk, or our Advice service: lusuadvice@lancaster.ac.uk. You can also follow all the official Union channels on Instagram for day-to-day updates. We know that there may be edge cases here, and want everyone to know we will advocate on their behalf at every opportunity.