School Statement for Students on Strike Action
Dear Students
As many of you might be aware, University and College Union (UCU) members are engaging in 18 days of industrial action throughout February and March 2023 and as a result, some of your lecturers, tutors and GTAs may be on strike at different points during this time. Confirmation of these dates can be found here.
There are likely to be a significant number of teaching events across many of our courses that are scheduled on days where strike action is proposed. Accordingly, the industrial action may impact your engagement in certain activities. We are not officially cancelling any classes due to the strike action, and you should assume that unless otherwise informed your class will take place as scheduled. However, we cannot confirm which members of staff may or may not be taking part in the strike. We have asked that individual lecturers, tutors and GTAs inform you of their intention in advance, but please note that they are not required to do so.
Please do not ask your lecturer, tutor or GTA to confirm their attendance at your class or to change any session times or course deadlines to a non-strike date. If the School, Subject or programme team become aware of any significant issues in this regard then we will announce any changes to this plan accordingly. Our aim is to ensure that no-one is unfairly disadvantaged as a result of this widespread action.
Rescheduling of classes: Where a class which has not taken place due to strike action is rescheduled you will be informed of this by your course convenor. We cannot guarantee that all classes will be rescheduled.
Assessments: We are working to a principle that no student will be disadvantaged by industrial action because of the impact on their assessment. As such, any course topics which have not been covered as a result of strike action will either be removed or alternative questions will be included ensuring that you have a choice of materials covered in each course. Course convenors will make it clear what topics will be excluded from assessment, such as exams or coursework requirements, e.g. essays.
If you have in-class summative assessment which is impacted by industrial action, we will work with colleagues to try to reschedule this for a later date. In the event that rescheduling is not possible then we will take this forward with the exam board and the assessment will be set aside in line with the guidance outlined by the Clerk of Senate.
We are not planning to make changes to coursework submission dates. However, students can use the short extension and good cause processes, if required.
Dissertations: Where dissertation deadlines are scheduled for the current semester, a one-week extension may be granted dependent on the Subject submission date. Please be guided by subject level communications on this matter. At present this extension is not offered to students with dissertations due for submission from June 2023 onwards.
Other information: It is important that you adhere to any specific guidance provided at Subject level and there may be some variance. This is important because each Subject will be working with different deadlines for coursework, and especially for your dissertations.
If you have any questions about the strike, you may wish to check out the following links:
Best wishes,
Professor Eamonn Butler McIntosh
Deputy Head of School (Learning and Teaching)