UCU industrial action - information for students

The University respects the decision of those staff who have voted to take part in industrial action, and we will continue to engage with UCU to understand members’ concerns. 

As with the strikes which took place earlier this year, we would like to reassure all students that we will continue to do all that we can to ensure your academic progress is not negatively impacted by this latest phase of industrial action. The University has a number of mechanisms available to ensure this doesn’t happen, and we will be doing everything we can to minimise disruption to your assessment, progression, and completion. 

The marking and assessment boycott may mean that some of your work is not marked by your tutor.  As outlined below, our first and preferred option will be to find other suitably qualified staff who can assess your work. 

The boycott may also mean that some scheduled assessment activity, such as presentations, performances, in-class tests, Moodle quizzes or vivas, may not take place if it is scheduled during the boycott. If we know in advance that these activities will not be happening, we will contact students to confirm alternative arrangements. If we are not notified by the staff member in advance, many of the same mechanisms that we can use to minimise disruption caused by a marking boycott, can also be applied in relation to these assessments.

The impact of the marking and assessment boycott will vary for different students, depending on Union membership of staff within different programmes. Once the boycott starts, we will analyse its potential impact on each programme, and make arrangements to minimise disruption, as described below.

We will provide updates for students and information will continue to be added to this dedicated student webpage.

What we mean when we say progression:

Progression means successfully completing an academic year and moving to the next year. For example, progression from Level 5 to Level 6 (or year 2 to year 3). 

What we mean when we say completion:

Completion is successfully completing all your credits so that you can receive your award.

Firstly, it's worth remembering that the University has some existing mechanisms - to support students’ progression that can be used in these circumstances:

• We had previously agreed that, as an exception to the undergraduate regulations, students can trail up to 30 Level 4 credits into Level 5 (i.e. take up to 30 Level 4 credits alongside Level 5 modules), provided they have passed the remainder of their modules at Level 4

• We also have the provision for Compensated Passes to be applied where students have narrowly failed a small number of modules at Level 4 or Level 5, and passed everything else.

Where marks are missing, and where these existing mechanisms can’t be used to reach decisions on students’ progression or completion, we have put in place the following emergency mechanisms:

• Where staff tell us that they are taking part in the marking boycott, our first and preferred option is to find other suitably qualified staff who can assess the work, so that our students’ work can be marked, moderated, and presented to the relevant examination committee for confirmation.

• Where this isn’t possible, we will consider adjustments on a module-by-module basis. In some instances, where academic staff can confirm that relevant learning outcomes have been or are covered elsewhere in your programme, we will be able to use our students’ marks from other assessments to agree an overall mark for the module. 

• Where we can’t reach a mark for a module via the above mechanism, we’ll look at students’ performance on other modules, and the same level of study. Where there is some credit which doesn’t have a mark, and where everything else at the level has been passed, we may apply an ungraded pass to a module to enable students to progress or complete.

• In some instances this may not be possible, for example on modules which are assessed on a single piece of work (such as some final year projects), or on courses which have professional or statutory accreditation requirements. Where we cannot determine an overall mark for a module, we will contact students directly to explain what this means to their progression or completion.

• It’s worth emphasising once again that we expect we will only need to use these alternatives in  a very small number of cases. We expect that the vast majority of students’ grades will be confirmed by examination committees in the usual way and without the need for adjustments. Where adjustments are made in the absence of marks, we’ll contact students individually to let them know that this has happened. If you’re not contacted about this within three working days after your results have been released, you’ll know that all of your work was marked.

• Students will be able to appeal against any of the decisions reached by examination committees using the emergency mechanisms listed above, using the existing academic appeals process. However, please be aware that making an appeal may delay your graduation date if you are completing your course, or a decision on your progression to the next level of study. 

All of the mitigations under this section were formally approved by Academic Board on 14 June 2023.

To uphold any risk to academic standards and marking quality, while taking into consideration current constraints during the marking and assessment boycott, the University’s Academic Board has approved the following framework of moderation: 

• no change to the faculty moderation policy as approved or required by professional, statutory or regulatory bodies 

• other appropriate members of academic staff carrying out the approved moderation policy

• alternative moderation approaches, including:

  • sample moderation by faculty quality teams

  • marking by one rather than two ‘double-blind’ markers for dissertations/projects, followed by sample moderation across dissertations (taking place post-upload of marks but before marks are released)

• moderation informed by cohort performance analysis compared with previous modules

• delayed moderation - no/minimal moderation pre-upload of marks but with moderation to take place before marks are released. 

Where a large difference is found during moderation, we will use standard moderation where appropriate. We will tell the external examiners if we have made any changes to the moderation of your module(s).

What we mean when we say moderation: Moderation is a process to ensure consistency and fairness, and uphold academic standards in assessment. The process can involve the use of detailed marking guides, so that each marker is marking to the same standards, and/or a review of a sample of marked work by another marker or appropriate academic. If inconsistencies in marking are found, a larger sample may be re-marked, or all the work reviewed. Specific moderation procedures may be required on programmes accredited by professional bodies. The overall aim is to ensure that marking is fair, consistent and meets the standards required.

For research students, we expect all supervisory teams to continue reading and advising and commenting on students' work. In cases where students experience some disruption to their programme of study, for example at the transfer stage or in relation to the final examination process, we will consider mitigations where we can. Annual Progress Monitoring should not be impacted by the boycott. 

If students encounter any issues relating to Annual Progress Monitoring caused by the boycott, please contact the Research Degrees Team in the first instance by emailing rdt-researchdegrees@brookes.ac.uk 

Where this is not possible, we will consider students' situations individually and may, for example, apply flexibility to some of our regulations around time limits, in order to enable continuation or completion. In the unlikely event that there are any delays to transfer arrangements caused by the boycott, students should continue with their work and study so that there are no further delays. Any delayed transfers will be considered and confirmed by the relevant committee at a later date.

Many of the mechanisms described above can also be applied in situations where assessments don’t take place. So if, for example, an assessed presentation or performance is cancelled because of the boycott, we may well be able to use your work in other assessments to determine an overall mark for the module(s) in question, without negatively impacting your average mark. If there is enough time, we may be able to reschedule your assessment or modify it so that you can still complete your assessments. 

For example, live in-class presentations may be modified to recorded presentations. Any adjustments will need to be mindful of the impact on other assessments that you may have. If this applies to any of your modules, you will be contacted with details of the new arrangements.

As above, this is subject to your programme’s learning outcomes having been covered in other assessments, and to any professional or statutory body regulations which may apply.

The University sent an email to all students who might be affected by the marking and assessment boycott on Friday 9 June. The email included information outlining the measures we’re taking and when we’ll provide further information.

If you did not receive an email with this information on Friday 9 June it means that your work has been assessed without need for any mitigation measures.

The University is continuing to put in place measures and support for students affected by the marking and assessment boycott and ongoing industrial action, as set out on this webpage.  

If you are concerned about your visa status, please contact the International Student Advice Team (ISAT) who will be able to advise you about your particular situation. You can email your query to the team, speak to an adviser in the Zoom Room or book a face-to-face appointment. 

We will do everything possible to avoid any delays to anyone’s progression or qualification because of industrial action, using the methods described above, but we need to recognise that this might not always be possible.

Yes, graduation ceremonies will take place as scheduled. More information can be found on the Graduation webpage.

Yes, you should carry on working on your assessments and submit them by their deadlines, and prepare for your examinations, even if you believe that programme staff will be taking part in the marking and assessment boycott. 

As described above, we’ll be doing everything we can to ensure that work is marked and assessments take place, so it’s important that you continue to prepare for your assessments as you normally would. 

Oxford Brookes recognises the increased financial pressures being felt during these difficult economic times. In December 2022, the University launched a new Staff Assistance Fund that can make grants of up to £1,000 to help staff with unexpected pressures that result in severe financial difficulty. We also confirmed that we are working on further measures to support staff who are experiencing financial pressures.

However, we need to reiterate that pay settlements are negotiated nationally by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) on behalf of over 100 universities, and therefore Oxford Brookes has no discretion or power to agree a higher settlement.

UCEA has to balance the desire of universities to support their staff with pay rises that match inflation against affordability - recognising the huge rises in energy and other costs faced by universities. While the University respects the decision of those who decide to strike, UCEA’s final pay offer of 5-8% (with larger rises for those on lower salaries) reflects this balance and is the most that can be afforded in the circumstances. 

The University welcomes UCEA’s decision to bring forward part of the 2023-24 pay round, to help support colleagues during these difficult times. An interim uplift in staff pay will be included in March’s payroll for Oxford Brookes staff, backdated to 1 February 2023. This will be £1,000 or an uplift of 2%, whichever is greater. Staff will receive the remainder of the uplift for the 2023-24 pay round proposed by UCEA in August.

The University will continue to pay employer pension contributions for staff during the strike days, including those engaging in strike action, wherever the scheme rules allow us to do so. We have also chosen at this stage not to deduct pay at the current time for those staff choosing to take part in ‘action short of a strike’. 

The University respects the decision of those staff who have voted to strike, and we will continue to engage with UCU to understand members’ concerns. 

We would like to reassure all students that we will continue to do all that we can to ensure your academic progress is not negatively impacted by industrial action. The University has a number of mechanisms available to ensure this doesn’t happen, and we will be doing everything we can to minimise disruption to your ongoing teaching, learning and assessment. 

The impact of strike action is likely to vary for different students, depending on Union membership of staff within different programmes; some students may notice little disruption, others may experience more. As was the case when industrial action took place in the last academic year, we are investigating a range of options to again enable lost learning to be recovered wherever possible and to ensure that learning outcomes can still be met.  

Ahead of strike action, many students will receive communications from programme teams, explaining the expected impact of strike action on teaching for your course. If you have any immediate concerns about your situation and what to do, then please talk to your Academic Adviser or Student Support Coordinator. 

Please be aware that other facilities on campus, and University support services, could also be affected.  

We will provide updates for students and information will continue to be added to this dedicated student webpage. 

Brookes Union Advice is a free, confidential service which is independent from Oxford Brookes University, and open to all Brookes students. Further information and details of how to contact the service can be found on the Brookes Union website.

Yes, all Oxford Brookes campuses will be open on strike action days. Students, staff and visitors are all welcome on our campuses. 

If you have any concerns please talk to your Academic Adviser or Student Support Coordinator.

We will do all that we can to ensure your learning outcomes are not negatively impacted by industrial action. How we ensure this for you will depend upon your specific circumstances, and the extent to which you have been impacted by industrial action, as set out below:

• Some staff will reschedule teaching activity and/or meetings not held on strike action days, and this will hopefully mean that the learning is not permanently lost to you.

• Some staff will not reschedule activities that had been planned, but may offer alternatives that mean that the same material is covered, but in a slightly different format.

• Some staff are not able or willing to do either of the above, and in those circumstances some activity might not be delivered. If those activities have an impact on assessment, then we will look, wherever possible, to modify your assessment so that any undelivered material will not form part of the assessment, or marking will be adjusted to acknowledge that the materials have not been covered.

• Where all of the above may not have had a sufficient mitigating effect, then below are some examples of other routes available to you. If you have any immediate concerns about your situation and what to do, then please talk to your Academic Adviser or Student Support Coordinator. 

Some colleagues will choose to deliver missed content. They may do this by offering additional sessions, bespoke “catch up” style delivery during periods that are earmarked for revision or they may change the content for future teaching sessions to more important content that may have been missed. They may also release online versions of what would have been delivered in person, alongside opportunities for you to follow up with questions.

What is done will vary depending upon a staff member’s ability to do this within the timetable and / or their willingness to catch up on what has been missed. UCU guidance to staff currently suggests that staff are encouraged not to try and recover any lost content.

This is complicated. Where teaching is part of a staff member’s contract, those staff who take industrial action can be told to use time they had planned for other activities (for example, research or conferences) for activity that was missed during strike action. For example staff could be asked to prioritise delivering missed lectures, seminars and /or supervision sessions over participation in committees and / or attendance at external events. The University hopes that we do not have to take such measures, but this is something that we will consider if we feel that student progression and graduation will be negatively affected by missed content.

All teaching staff have a carefully calculated workload plan that allocates time in their working week for the full range and volume of their responsibilities across teaching and research. Colleagues who choose not to take industrial action will not have space in their own working week to deliver the content that may not be delivered by those who go on strike.

A key principle for assessment will be that students will not be assessed on material that has not been delivered.

We can’t make any universal or blanket adjustment to students’ marks in response to the impact of industrial action - there wouldn’t be a fair way of doing this which recognised the huge variety of ways in which students’ learning may be impacted. But we can make some adjustments to the way that students are assessed, to acknowledge the impact of missed content - we’ve outlined these adjustments in the following questions and answers.

There are a few things that this could mean depending upon your circumstances and what teaching you have missed.

1. If as a result of industrial action you have missed teaching sessions or scheduled meetings (for example with your supervisor) then this may be considered grounds for Exceptional Circumstances and, where it is possible, extensions to deadlines will be granted. The length of extension will clearly need to depend upon your specific circumstances. 

2. Wherever possible assessments will be changed to meet the required learning outcomes that correspond to the content that has been delivered.  This means that you will be assessed on what you have been taught but not assessed on what you have not been taught (see also point 3). 

3. If your assessment cannot be altered due to being tied to specific learning outcomes and the content for that has not been delivered, you will not be able to meet those outcomes. To ensure that you can still progress or graduate, we will need to explore alternative options such as checking if those outcomes have been met in other modules or across the programme. This option can only really be assessed for you at the end of your academic year. We may also offer the option of ungraded passes to protect students’ overall average marks from being impacted by any necessary changes to assessments.

4. If we can’t assess particular learning outcomes at module or programme level, then we have options to look at how we might be able to progress you or graduate you without that particular content. This will be difficult for compulsory modules, particularly at Levels 6 and 7 where these form the ‘capstones’ of degree qualifications. We will, however, consider this wherever possible.

5. Where programmes carry professional accreditation, for example in nursing, engineering or teacher education subjects, there may be no way of compensating for missed content/learning outcomes that the relevant professional body would find satisfactory. We will do everything possible to avoid any delays to anyone’s qualification because of industrial action but we need to recognise that this might not always be possible.

If you can still achieve a pass mark for any of the components taken, but are not in a position to demonstrate the full range of your expected learning due to missed content or learning outcomes, we may be able to offer you an ungraded pass mark for the module to ensure that you achieve the credit required to complete a year of study or to graduate. We will ensure that marks that are obtained through this route do not negatively impact your final degree award, by removing modules that have been subject to this type of “pass” from your final average calculation.

If you can’t pass a module based on individual components that couldn’t be assessed, we will look at compensated pass options. If you have achieved pass marks in all of your other modules, you will be able to fail a certain proportion of credits within our current regulations, and still be awarded a compensated pass in affected modules. In such circumstances, you will be able to progress. Please note that there is no provision for compensated passes at Levels 3, 6, 7, or 8.

If you cannot achieve a pass through any of the above two routes, and are not due to graduate this year, then we will look at options for you to progress to the next year of study. This may involve ‘trailing’ modules between levels of study, or it may involve finding other ways for you to achieve the required amount and level of credit, such as independent study modules. As described above, any professional recognition or accreditation requirements would, if applicable, take precedence over measures which the University might seek to take; this could mean that some of these options are not available to students on courses leading to professional qualification or recognition.

We hope that all of the above will ensure that the vast majority of students will have the opportunity to demonstrate that they meet the learning outcomes for courses taught during the period of industrial action. However, we need to acknowledge that industrial action is, by its nature, intended to cause disruption, and there may be a small number of cases where it is simply not possible to make up for content which has been missed, in ways which uphold the academic integrity of the University’s courses, or the requirements of professional bodies. In these instances, we will take a case-by-case approach to consider what appropriate actions to take, explain what this means and how we will support you to complete your qualification.

We have identified those modules where we believe core content may not be fully delivered as a consequence of industrial action.

Students on those modules will normally be contacted before any assessment deadline to confirm that arrangements will be put in place to accommodate disruption to learning. This may involve the moving of deadlines for submission depending on when the assessment is due and how much content has not been delivered.

If you believe your learning has been disrupted by industrial action on a module and you are not contacted in advance of the assessment deadline, you should contact your Associate Dean Education and Student Experience via the following contact details:

• Oxford Brookes Business School -  Lindsay Williams via lwilliams@brookes.ac.uk

• Faculty of Health and Life Sciences - Ian Scott via i.scott@brookes.ac.uk 

• Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences - Dave Ellis via d.ellis@brookes.ac.uk

• Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment - Lucy Turner via lturner@brookes.ac.uk

• Exceptional Circumstances (where an extension to your deadlines might be appropriate)

If your ability to submit a piece of assessment on time is affected (e.g. you believe that you will miss a critical session that is essential to a successful submission because you did not receive essential teaching, a seminar or meeting with an academic member of staff) then you may wish to consider using Exceptional Circumstances to apply for an extension to your deadline.

Details on how to apply for Exceptional Circumstances can be found online.

• Academic appeals (where your assessment activity has been impacted by industrial action)

If you feel that after you have taken an assessment, that your ability to succeed in that assessment has been compromised due to industrial action, then you can consider making an academic appeal.

Details of how to do this can be found online.

While all appellants will be able to make their own case, and utilise any of the legitimate grounds for appeal, for the avoidance of doubt, the University will consider the circumstance within Academic Appeals policy noted below as an option to cover an instance in which an assessment has not been modified to reflect lost teaching activity.

“There was an administrative error or procedural irregularity in the assessment process, which significantly impacted the assessment decision.”

• Complaints

If, after all of the mitigating actions have been put in place, you still feel that you have lost learning and have been negatively impacted by the strike action then you can utilise the University’s complaints process.

Details of how to make a complaint can be found online.

It is strongly recommended that you wait until the end of the academic year to make a complaint so that it can be accurately investigated, and take into account the full impact of any industrial action, and any mitigating actions that have been taken.