Cardiff student may find out grades after graduation

A marking and assessment boycott means some final-year students face the prospect of having graduation ceremonies before final degree grades.

Cardiff University student Eve Davies, 22, said her marks could arrive in September, despite graduation in July.

The university said it regretted that the boycott was causing uncertainty for students.

The action by UCU union follows a UK-wide dispute over pay and conditions.

It began on 20 April and will continue until employers make an improved offer on pay and conditions, a spokesperson said.

An offer of between 5% and 8% has been made, while a poll of universities found about 10% of students will be affected by the boycott.

Eve's three years studying English literature have been marred by disruption, from Covid-19 in her first couple of years to a fresh wave of strikes in her final year.

"Most of my degree obviously was delivered online through blended learning, so it was all very much you had to get on and do the work yourself.

"The lectures were ed, you had to figure out your schedule for when you'd get through them and then a Zoom call for your seminars," she said.

She believes strikes in her second semester meant she had about half the teaching she should have.

Now, on top of this, she faces not knowing her final degree grade until after the summer.

"All we've heard is that our marks will not be released until 1 September, they've put that forward as a provisional date and our graduation ceremonies will still go ahead in July whether we have our marks by then or not," Eve said.

"It's particularly affected how I feel about graduation, obviously that's a ceremony that you really look forward to and I was really looking forward to it. But without knowing my marks by then, I feel like what's the point in graduating":[]}