Students fear graduation chaos

By Alexandra Blair

Academics reject the latest pay offer and are told by unions not to set examinations this summer

STUDENTS’ fears that they may be prevented from graduating this summer worsened last night when academics rejected the latest pay deal offered by universities.

Three teaching unions, led by the Association of University Teachers (AUT), said the offer of 12.6 per cent over three years was worth less than 11 per cent in take-home cash. The union has instructed its members not to set any examinations this summer in support of a campaign for a 23 per cent rise by 2009. Its fellow union, Natfhe, has told its members not to mark course work or invigilate exams.

As many as 300,000 of Britain’s final year students — 75 per cent — now face the prospect of having to enter the jobs market this summer without any degree to show potential employers.

Last week it emerged that solicitors had been asked to mark law papers at the University of East Anglia as it struggled to mark students’ papers amid the academic boycott.

Sally Hunt, the AUT general secretary, accused the employers of “fiddling whilst Rome burns” and failing to grasp the reality of the situation. She said the offer fell “far short” of the increase sought and could not be the basis of a settlement.

“Universities are facing legal challenges from their students, graduations risk being shelved and professional bodies are expressing concern over the contingency measures being considered by some institutions,” she said.

The AUT says that the pay of academic staff has fallen by 40 per cent over 20 years, with lecturers being now paid an average of £35,773 a year.

Ms Hunt said that all the unions wanted a “swift national settlement” and an end to the dispute, which began on March 8. Last week St Andrews and Aberdeen universities made local offers to their AUT members of 12.5 per cent, which were rejected in favour of a national award.

However, the AUT insisted yesterday that the latest offer by the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (Ucea) did not even match the cash on offer in Scotland.

Yesterday’s national offer was a 3 per cent increase in August 2006, or £515, whichever was greater. There would be a 1 per cent rise the next February, followed by a further 3 per cent rise in the August and another 1 per cent in February 2008, or £200, whichever was greater.

In August 2008 there would be a 3 per cent rise, with a further 1 per cent the February after that.

The AUT said that staggering the pay rise at six monthly intervals meant that the offer was worth only 10.87 per cent rather than 12.6 per cent.

Ms Hunt said Ucea must “start listening to its member institutions. We will continue to put pressure on them to resume negotiations but, in the meantime, we are considering other avenues to try and pursue a national settlement.

“Sadly, until we do so, the crisis in our institutions continues, with universities

being forced to take increasingly desperate measures to placate their students.”

An e-mail circulated within the Mills and Reeve law firm based in Norwich, and passed on to The Times, asked staff if they would consider marking papers, even if they were practitioners “with no previous history of teaching”.

Tensions are rising as 400,000 final-year students grow increasingly anxious about their degrees.

SALARY DISPUTE