Industrial action at City

The action will be a marking assessment boycott, which means any academic staff who are on strike will refuse to carry out assessment and marking duties during this time.

Striking staff may create a picket line by standing outside their workplace to tell people why they are taking part in industrial action and ask them not to cross the line.

The Marking and Assessment boycott is taking place from Thursday 20 April.

Our main priority is to minimise the disruption to your education and student experience.Our Industrial Action Quality & Standards Group meets ahead of and regularly throughout the action to maintain an overview of the academic impact of industrial action across the University and look at mitigations we can take. This group includes representation from all Schools, and the President of the Students’ Union.

We are working hard to minimise the impact of the action on you and your studies. Any changes that are needed to mitigate the impact of the industrial action will be done to ensure fairness to students and to retain the integrity of our academic standards.

You should continue to follow the Exam Timetable, which was published on 24 March, and complete any other assessments unless your School informs you there are any changes.

All Graduation ceremonies will go ahead as planned.

Please work on the basis that the assessment (including practical sessions) is taking place unless informed otherwise.

For example, please submit your coursework by the stated deadline. Work on the assumption that normal penalties will continue to apply to late or the non-submission of coursework or non-attendance. This includes deadlines or sessions falling on planned strike days. You will be notified by your course team if there are changes to scheduling or deadlines.

Yes, you will still be able to contact staff as you usually would. There may be a delay in receiving a response, so if your question requires urgent attention or in doubt, please contact your Course Office.

You can also contact our Student Support Services and the Students’ Union support.

It may be the case that your supervisor takes action and therefore any scheduled supervision for a strike day may be cancelled and need to be rescheduled.

If you have a viva examination or formal progression meeting planned, then please assume this will go ahead unless you hear otherwise.

There is no need for you to report the disruption through completion of an Extenuating Circumstances form. The University will have gathered detailed information on how industrial action may have impacted each module. This information will be available to Assessment Boards.

If you have a specific set of individual circumstances which have affected your studies then you should complete an Extenuating Circumstances Form in the usual way. Equally, if you feel your work has been disproportionately impacted by the industrial action in one or more assessments because of your own individual circumstances (e.g. caring responsibilities, medical or other personal problems) then you can also complete a form.

We appreciate that industrial action is disruptive and you have invested financially in your education. We will be carefully monitoring the impact of strike action on modules, programmes and individual students. Our primary focus will be on mitigating against the impact and ensuring your assessments are marked on time.

If you wish to apply for a refund once the full impact of strike action on you is clear, you can do so through City’s complaints process. You can find further information on the University’s Complaints procedure on the Student Hub.

We will be monitoring the impact of strike action on the teaching and marking of modules, programmes and individual students very carefully. Our primary focus will be on mitigating against the impact of any missed teaching or marking, and to ensure no student is disadvantaged in assessment through any disruption.

We wish to cooperate with students to resolve issues before the need for making a formal complaint.

If you feel your issues have not been satisfactorily resolved, we recommend that you submit a formal stage 2 complaint only once the full impacts of strike action on you is clear. This would usually be following the respective Assessment Boards for the programmes impacted by the strike action. You can find further information on the University’s Complaints procedure on the Student Hub.

Yes, during strike action, you are expected to attend teaching as usual. The University will not repeat teaching, tutorials or related activity that goes ahead normally during the strike action.

You are also expected to submit any assessments, including coming into City to provide a hard copy, if this is a specific requirement, or to complete in-person assessments such as tests or presentations. If you choose not to participate in an assessment, this may be taken as a non-submission and you should contact your Course Office.

If your results have been impacted by the marking and assessment boycott, your School will advise you of this, so please check your emails regularly. Your results letter, received after an Assessment Board has met to agree your marks, will state if your marks have been impacted and provide further guidance.

If your School has not advised you as per the above, your marks have not been impacted.

If you are a final year student wishing to apply for a Graduate Immigration Visa route, but your final award has been impacted by the marking and assessment boycott, the Home Office issued a concession confirming that they will use their discretion and will hold Graduate route applications made before the applicant’s results have been received, provided that the results are received within 8 weeks of the application being made.

Please note that you will be applying for a Graduate Immigration Visa route on your own risk, in case you have not received final results before you apply. For further advice and guidance please email the International Student Advice team.