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Professor Sasha Roseneil

Our Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Sasha Roseneil, has written an open letter to finalist students today, Friday 14 July 2023.

Dear Student

I am writing to you to offer my sincere apologies to all of you, our final year students, that you will not all be receiving your final grades in time for your graduation ceremonies next week.

During your time here at Sussex you and your fellow students have faced a number of unprecedented challenges. First you went through the uncertainties and disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its repeated lockdowns and interruptions to normal university life. Then, as things were settling down, students on some degree programmes experienced several periods of strike action. And now many of you are facing delays in receiving your degree results because academics in a number of Schools are currently engaged in a marking and assessment boycott.

This form of industrial action is taking place across the UK, at more than 140 higher education institutions, and is part of a wider campaign to secure improved working conditions and higher pay. These issues are negotiated nationally, between the employers’ body, the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), and all sector-recognised trade unions. The 5-8% pay rise offered by UCEA for the coming year was rejected and since then there has been an impasse between the two sides.

As the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex, I have been doing all that I can to influence the national situation, as I believe that resolution has to be found through dialogue and compromise. In this spirit, and because I am passionately committed to improving working conditions for Sussex employees, especially during the current cost of living crisis, I worked with the Sussex branch of the University and College Union (UCU) to issue a joint statement. In this we pointed out the underlying problem of the long-term under-funding of higher education, and we urged employers and unions to return to the negotiating table. Whilst I am all too aware that many universities are facing serious financial difficulties, and all universities are grappling with frozen tuition fees and high levels of inflation, I do believe that there is much more we can do to address staff concerns about how they are rewarded for their dedication and hard work.

There is now, finally, a glimmer of hope. As of today, Friday 14 July, after a long period of stand-off, UCEA and UCU are finally talking again. This is good news.

But there is one more issue that I would like to address head-on. I have heard talk that somehow this year’s graduates’ degrees will be devalued because of the industrial action. This is absolutely not the case. Significant numbers of Sussex’s final year students do not have a full set of marks and have not yet received a classified degree precisely because our commitment to preserving academic standards means that we cannot provide the necessary academic quality assurance until the marking and assessment boycott is lifted.

I want to assure you that everyone’s work will be marked once the marking and assessment boycott ends. We absolutely will not compromise academic standards, and the value of your Sussex qualifications will stand the test of time.

Let me finish by reiterating my apology. Your generation of students has had a very tough time at university, and the marking and assessment boycott will feel to some of you like the final straw. Colleagues across the University share my deep sorrow about what you have experienced and have been doing all they can to mitigate the impact of the industrial action.

I do hope, despite all of this, that you and your friends and loved ones will enjoy your participation in next week’s ceremony, as a true and joyful celebration of your time at Sussex, and of this important moment of transition in your life.

With my warmest wishes 

Professor Sasha Roseneil

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