By Klara Woxström
The Marking and Assessment Boycott marked a culmination of the years-long University and College Union (UCU) strikes over pay, pensions and the end of temporary, insecure employment contracts. Though the boycott ended on 6 September – following its withdrawal by the UCU – and outstanding marks will be returned to students, recent graduates continue to feel its effects.
For students who had already seen their teaching go almost completely online during the Covid-19 pandemic, the nationwide strike left students feeling as if “[they] simply couldn’t make the most out of [their] campus experiences and the educational quality” with “fewer topics showing up on the exam paper [and a] more limited range of topics that determined [their] final grade.” The emails concerning final results solidified the sentiment that the value of students’ degrees was dwindling.
“As you will be aware, some of your marks from the 2022/2023 academic year have, regrettably, been delayed by the UK-wide marking and assessment boycott led by the University and College Union. This meant that we were not able to confirm a final classification…”
Instead, if students were eligible, they would receive a digital award stating their provisional classification, an interim transcript, and a letter of explanation.
LSE gave a timeline of the results process stating final results would be released on 14 July. If not, “any additional marks that have been confirmed will be released in a second results release by 28 July.” Students only received provisional classifications if they reached a certain threshold of marks received.
While both James*, a Sociology student and Beatrice*, an International Relations and History student, received their provisional classifications on 28 July, their experiences applying for masters programmes abroad were complicated by not receiving their final results.
James told The Beaver that his provisional classification was rejected by the university he had applied to, as the document could not be verified online. “It did create a very stressful situation for me during master’s applications,” he said. Instead, LSE had to send the university hard copies of the documents.
While European universities started as early as late August, the delay caused by the boycott meant he “had to contact so many different officers and people in charge to get the deadline extended.”
Meanwhile, Beatrice faced complications when she needed to receive her mark for an International Relations module to confirm her place at Columbia University. They required her “to purchase a credentials verification package from a third-party company to verify [her] results by mid-October but [she’s] worried that [she] will be unable to do so in time.”
“I’m waiting on my results before I order it because I don’t want it to fail and waste the money.”
Upon emailing the Department of International Relations she got the response that they were unable to confirm when she would receive her mark back for the module, and that the interim transcript would have to suffice.
After the initial results were released on 28 July, students were to be emailed directly in two-week increments if more marks became available. If students received all their marks, their final classification would be confirmed. Otherwise, provisional classifications would be issued once students had enough marks to be eligible.
Many students in the Departments of Sociology and Anthropology did not receive their provisional classifications until around 4 August.
Anya*, a Sociology graduate, recounts, “I got my provisional [classification] on the 4th of August [but] I’m still missing 2 full units’ worth of marks. I applied to UK universities that were quite understanding, but it brought me a lot of stress as I was unable to provide Oxford with my final transcript or any provisional results by their deadline on July 28th, which resulted in a lot of form-filling, calls and emails back and forth.” The provisional classification they eventually received was thankfully “enough to get [her] ‘conditions complete’ letter.”
Similarly, Hannah*, a Social Anthropology student, is missing two half-units and only received her provisional classification on 5 August. “Delayed results meant that I was late for applying to college housing as I was not able to officially meet the terms of my master’s offer. As a result […] it is very unlikely I will get to live in college. This is something I really wanted, given that my university experience was compromised during my undergraduate degree due to Covid.”
Anthropology was one of the departments to suffer the most from missing grades. One recent graduate from the department told The Beaver that some third-year Social Anthropology students were planning to turn to national media outlets such as the BBC to “force the university’s hand and ensure that [they] would actually get [their] results because there was some worry that [they] would be left without their classifications for an indefinite period.”
“I think now most students have received the classification, but it was a lot later than other departments. Anthro[pology] students have typically been in support of the strikes, but there was a lot of upset because we have been one of the most affected departments when it comes to the impact of the strikes.”
For international postgraduate students, the stakes were especially high. Patrick Tamayo, a Global Media masters student, created a WhatsApp group for international students facing visa issues to organise and advocate for themselves. While Patrick is completing a joint degree with Fudan University in China and he can continue his studies, he worries for his peers.
“They’re stuck living in London with the cost of living crisis, a possibly bogus diploma, and [unable] to apply for jobs with their latest degree which they invested a lot of time and money into… the costs for staying will [only rise] as they have to apply for strikes concession visa and NHS extensions that are costly and not currently covered by LSE.” He notes that Cambridge, for example, is covering such costs for its students.
Such worries were echoed by Ricardo Rauseo, an international student completing a masters in Politics and Communication. While he received his provisional classification on 4 September, at the time of his interview with The Beaver, Ricardo could not apply for a graduate visa as he did not have access to provisional grades. Despite being a recent graduate from LSE and having nearly five years of experience in political communications in the US, Ricardo struggled to find work due to his uncertain visa status. He “took this break to do this masters”, mainly motivated by “the possibility of diversifying [his] experience in the [UK].”
However, Ricardo and his partner found that their visa status presented a continuous issue at job interviews. While Ricardo can work for the next five years, given that he can apply for graduate visas once the strikes stops, he has been told multiple times by employers it is not enough of a guarantee to land him a job offer.
“Even though I can work full-time already given that I’ve submitted my dissertation […] recruiters I’ve been in contact with have mentioned that [visa uncertainty] is something that is a really big sticking point for a lot of companies because they feel the need to potentially sponsor you in two years… because of the crisis and the possible recession we’re facing, companies are not willing to do that.”
While Ricardo has been working part-time at an H&M in Brixton, it is not enough to financially support himself in the UK. “I initially thought that I was [going to] live here for a few years, and therefore I really closed a lot of chapters in the US, and I essentially moved all my belongings here, and now I’m finding myself in a situation where my lease is about to end in October […] I can’t financially take on another lease without the guarantee of a job.”
Patrick and Ricardo both pointed out that the situation for postgraduate students would probably become most evident around December and January when international students’ visas expire and they must leave the UK.
“There’s a very big difference between the disappointment of not getting a job in the United Kingdom and having to move back to the United States versus transitioning to other areas of the world. It is a really big burden, and I’m really privileged that I come from the US, but […] I’m originally Venezuelan. I know people [who] are also Venezuelan, and […] especially in political communication, I have heard about people who are really worried about what they’ve written in their dissertation being very critical of their home government. They would have been hesitant in writing these things if the idea of staying in the UK long-term wasn’t a possibility.”
Most interviewees were critical of how LSE dealt with the situation. Hannah expressed, “I personally felt that [LSE] did not seem to acknowledge the impact that the strikes would have on students long term besides inconvenience.” Similarly, Ricardo called LSE’s handling of the situation a “cultural shock,” stating, “LSE has been so unresponsive […] they encouraged us to submit our complaints regarding the strikes for us to claim compensation.” He claims many of his peers feel that “this has been a tactic for them to silence [them].” LSE responded to the complaints saying the “investigations will take 6-9 months to complete [… and that they] may not receive notification of the outcome of [their] complaint until 2024.”
Ricardo told The Beaver that he and other international students had “quantified the amount of money we lost with the classes and pushed LSE with an invoice” stating the amount of money they were owed. LSE then “redirected us to this Google Form that we filled out in April or March.”
Many interviewees also expressed their changing feelings toward the strike action as time went on. James told The Beaver, “At the very beginning, I thought I was very supportive of it, but as the strike dragged on, I think that the union simply could not effectively put the employers and the university under pressure while making the students a bargaining chip in their calculation […] and I think the university was also quite stubborn in their positions.”
One Social Anthropology student expressed they supported the strikes but felt that the marking and assessment boycott should not have been conducted because it impacted many students’ lives.
Patrick is part of a student-staff network communicating about the strikes. At one point, “international students and I spoke up to union members about the situation being a bit unfair and unequal and how it had become harder to convince [their] peers to support it.”
LSE UCU members responded positively to their concerns and held meetings concerning protecting migrant and working-class students. Moreover, LSE UCU and LSESU unanimously voted and signed a joint statement concerning student-faculty rights, which they sent to the LSE administration. Patrick claims that he never heard back from them but that it was his “proudest involvement.”
While Patrick questioned some ways that the strikes have been handled and called negotiations disappointing, he supports the strikes and points out that “we can’t let our struggles be divided into a student/professor paradigm.”
“A very nuanced and difficult scenario” and “a sort of crisis” are some ways Patrick describes the current situation. “It says a lot that professors felt like they had no choice […] I appreciate their role so much, [so] they have my unconditional support, and they taught me a lot this year.”
*Names have been changed to preserve anonymity.
Image by Ben Chen.
