THE announcement last week that lecturers had suspended their strike over pay promised to bring an end to the nightmare of postponed exams, unmarked papers and delayed graduation ceremonies for thousands of students.
But although lecturers have agreed to go back to work, the future is still uncertain for students in universities where exams had been cancelled or where they had not even been set. The length of the dispute means that there will still be students whose marks are delayed, according to the National Union of Students.
Trevor Phillips, a spokesman for the University and College Union, which represents lecturers, says: “There are places where things may not have got back to normal. Everybody is working normally now but that doesn’t mean there won’t be logjams. If you haven’t marked anything for a month or more, (even if) you start marking furiously now, there may be holidays planned and other interruptions.”
Final-year students will naturally be worried about what impact this will have on their job offers, especially those that are conditional. But the message from top graduate recruiters appears to be sympathetic. The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) has advised its members to honour offers made to final year students even if they they don’t have a degree classification by their start date. For those employers that still insist on one, the AGR recommends putting this condition in the employee’s appointment letter or extending their probationary period until the degree award is known. Reassuringly for students, it also cautions against discriminating against the graduate class of 2006 or regarding them “as any less valued than other years”.
Accenture, the consulting firm, which employs about 500 graduates a year, has written to tell those involved not to worry. “We are saying that they won’t be affected by this and we empathise with their situation,” says Sally Brookes, a member of the graduate recruitment team.
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This is echoed at Deloitte, the professional services company, which will employ 1,200 graduates this year and, like Accenture, expects candidates to get a 2.1.
Sarah Shillingford, a graduate recruitment partner, says: “For the people who have received a job offer from us, subject to them having the right to work in the UK, we will honour their contract and they can join us as they had previously expected to join us, even though their degree may not have been classified.”