It is sad to see people like yourself not getting their just reward for their hard work; one of the reasons I was in support of yesterday’s strike.

I hope that for people like yourself the action pays off, because you deserve better.

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Neon, in response to your questions (to the best of my abilities)

“Does the assessment boycott delay the assessments by more than a day?”

Yes, it does. Assesment will stop for as long as it takes in theory for a breakthrough to occur. Unlike the strikes, its an on-going issue. Obviously the union, or some members do back down after a short period of time, but in the past it has gone on for a lot more than a few days.

“Does the easement boycott change how the papers/exams are assessed?”

The method of assesment wouldn’t change.

“Would the lecturers need to rush their assessments?”

Rush, no. But obviously the longer it goes on for, the more delays enter the system. Unless you mark on priority after the boycott, a first come first served system may take quite a while to clear a backlog of more than a few days of marking. Especially where summertive coursework is concerned.

“Do some students graduate before the summer (between now and sometime in July)?”

Some students complete assesments before that date; some assesments take longer to mark and consider. As for graduation as in a day, no, there are only two official degree days a year AFAIK.

“Is the boycott just likely to affect when the results are published, or the actual graduation day as well?”

Leeds uni issued a warning to it’s students that both may occur, citing students on postgraduate courses as most likely to suffer with both a delay in results AND a delay in graduation, so it must be a reasonable amount of an issue…

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As to your overall points, I do agree in a way, I just think that not enough is done to dispell worries of students if what you say is the case.

The uni sent out an e-mail to all students warning about possible disruption, and very few lecturers have openly said anything about it not affecting students much. This has led to the students union sitting on the fence on the issue, and several student groups having concerns either about marking, or on the reverse side of the coin about lack of support for the action.

Studnets need to make informed decsions about who/why to support, and indeed how much they have cause for concern for their own work. At the moment, information relating to this effect from both the Uni, SU and AUT is very sketchy, hence my mostly hypothetical comments about the potential for problems.

I am in no way saying it WILL happen or even that it WONT but that the potential is there, and thus as a student it is worth mentioning

In terms of student facilities, I won’t argue; they are much better, and I enjoy making the most of them, and apreciate they are there to use. Truth is though it’s not related to lecturers pay. Online results etc. are usually managed by software bought in by outside the uni, or even if it is built/maintained on site, it is rarely by staff who lecture.

Lord how I love a good debate

Couple of questions for ya Kiers:

I’m asking because I don’t know (not having all the details):

Does the assessment boycott delay the assessments by more than a day?
Does the easement boycott change how the papers/exams are assessed? Would the lecturers need to rush their assessments?
Do some students graduate before the summer (between now and sometime in July)?
Is the boycott just likely to affect when the results are published, or the actual graduation day as well?

I recall waiting impatiently for results to be published and checking various lists, but I don’t think a day or two would have made much difference. At one time you had to come in to campus to find your results, then Unis offered to post you results by mail and now they make them available on the Net. Students have more options now than in the past and should appreciate that.

I would be more concerned if my grades were affected rather than having to tolerate a relatively minor delay for a worthy cause. All IMHO .