As a group of students from the University of Glasgow we are writing this statement to express our disappointment in the way the University is handling the ongoing dispute with the UCU, and to protest the awarding of degrees without classifications. Strike action has had a negative impact on all students at the University and the marking boycott has taken the disruption to a new level. Especially for those who are graduating in just a few days, missing grades have a massive impact on employment and academic opportunities, scholarships, and potential legal status consequences.

The way that the University has been dealing with this situation is highly unsatisfactory. While it seems like everything has been tried to disrupt Union action, like pay deductions and hiring external markers which raises serious questions about academic integrity, the strategy fails to tackle the root cause of the disruptions, which can only be resolved by negotiating with the UCU.

The new mitigation strategy to award incomplete degrees or no degrees at all in some cases is merely a distraction from the failure to resolve the disputes regarding fair pay, pensions, and workload. This half-hearted "solution" does not help graduating students but adds further to the uncertainty and difficulties faced by us. Many of us are highly concerned about the quality and validity of our degrees as we are entering a highly competitive labour market and the University is unable to guarantee that the external agents will accept degrees with missing classifications. We worked hard and were looking forward to Graduation for years and will not accept devaluation of our efforts.

Instead of focusing on upholding the façade of a normal graduation, we urge the University to do everything in its power to resume negotiations with the UCU to resolve the issues at hand.

Let’s together exert pressure on the university by showing them we can unite and showing them how many of us are unsatisfied with the provided solution, sign the petition now!