This petition has been raised by PhD researchers at Northumbria University, on behalf of all students here, and elsewhere in the UK where university staff are participating in industrial action.

Academics who are part of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) have been forced to resort to a marking and assessing boycott, in the fight for better working rights for all academic staff. As such, they have been threatened with losing pay, and, importantly for students, their work will be marked by someone who may not know them or even teach in the subject specialism.

We understand that lecturers, both precarious and tenured, have not come to this industrial action step lightly. The fact that university management will not compromise and improve their working conditions - and therefore our teaching conditions - shows how little they value students as well as staff. The possibility of those on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes not having assessments that reflect their true learning (which could impact on module marks and final degree/award classifications) is appalling.

This petition supports not only the efforts of Northumbria UCU in attempting to resolve this issue, but supports the staff in their continued fight for their colleagues and their students. We also recognise the efforts of other UCU branches and support them through this statement.