We are petitioning on behalf of all 41,000 students attending UCL who will be affected by the planned 4-week strike action in February-March 2020. We propose that the compensation offered through the Learning Opportunity Fund should no longer be capped at £250 per student and should instead reflect 14% of the total yearly fees for that student.

Out of the 20 weeks (100 days) of teaching we receive, these strikes will be affecting 14 of those days, leaving many students without the support and tuition they have paid for, in the lead-up to crucial exams and deadlines. We acknowledge the UCL-Student Relationship Terms and Conditions which UCL requires students to sign in order to study includes the clause:

"Occasionally UCL may need to make changes to or cancel part of or an entire Programme due to circumstances that are beyond its reasonable control. This could include … industrial action, over or under demand for courses or modules, lack of funding, non-availability of suitable staff, severe weather, fire, civil disorder, political unrest and government restrictions​."

However, UCL was made aware of these strikes and in light of the strikes occurring during the first term, we believe that it was in the University's control to prevent further disruption to students. Furthermore, given that UCL insists on running as a business we feel that compensation is necessary for a "service" which we are not receiving, but still paying for. Additionally, UCL will not be paying its staff for the days they choose to strike.

UCL states that: 

"A day’s pay (1/365 of total salary) will be withheld from employees for each day they go on strike. UCL will not benefit from pay deducted from staff taking action. This money will be put into a Learning Opportunities Fund which we will use to support students who have missed teaching or learning due to the industrial action. We anticipate this being in April 2020." 

The Learning Opportunities Fund allocates a maximum of £250 per student, we argue that this is not enough. For UK undergraduate students the strike action (if affecting all a student's lectures) will amount to a monetary value of: 

£9250 x (14% {the percentage of teaching days affected by strike action}) = £1295

For international students, the fees are significantly higher and the strikes could amount to a monetary value of:

£24000 x (14%) = £3360 ( £24,000 = average of international fees)

As students of UCL, we are asking the university to increase the maximum amount claimable from the Learning Opportunities Fund that opens in April 2020 in line with the figures mentioned above, so that students who may have all their lectures cancelled are not worse off financially - despite being worse off in terms of their education. 

This is not to suggest that we do not support the lecturers decision to strike. Many of us stand in solidarity with our tutors and lecturers. However, this support does not overshadow the serious disruption the strikes will cause to our studies, and UCL's clear financial gain if they do go ahead. This is an education we have paid for, were promised and expect.

N.B. In addition to the Learning Opportunities Fund, we do not individually rule out further claims of compensation. We acknowledge that the extended nature of the strikes may damage our graduate prospects, and future earnings, substantially.