We have today written to senior management about our continued concerns over the short timeframe between the assessment period and marks release dates at the end of this academic year. This was an issue we raised previously at our UCU JNC meeting in February 2022 at which we were assured this matter would be investigated further. Please see below for our email to Philip Wright, Senior Vice-President.
From: ucu <ucu@soton.ac.uk>
Sent: 11 November 2022 14:34
To: Phillip Wright <P.C.Wright@soton.ac.uk>
Cc: ucu <ucu@soton.ac.uk>; Luke Kelly <L.A.Kelly@soton.ac.uk>; Vice President (Operations) <Vice-PresidentOperations@soton.ac.uk>; Anne-Marie Sitton <A.Sitton@soton.ac.uk>; Graham Niblo <G.A.Niblo@soton.ac.uk>; Denis Nicole <dan@ecs.soton.ac.uk>; David Bretherton <D.Bretherton@soton.ac.uk>; Claire Le Foll <C.Le-Foll@soton.ac.uk>; Mary Morrison <M.S.Morrison@soton.ac.uk>; Moray McAulay <‘MMcAulay@UCU.ORG.UK’>; Roberta Head <R.I.Head@soton.ac.uk>; Deborah Gill <D.P.Gill@soton.ac.uk>; Kieron Broadhead <K.Broadhead@soton.ac.uk>
Subject: Exams marks release dates
Dear Phillip
You may recall at the UCU JNC on 17 February 2022 that we submitted the attached paper raising our concerns about the increased workload imposed on staff due to the reduced time between the end of the assessment period and the marks release date.
There was a discussion at the JNC meeting and we understood that the University would seriously consider the impact not just on workload but the mental pressures on both academic and professional service staff. Reasons provided by the University for change were the supergraduation, online options and timetabling. We were led to believe that the University would, however, speak to relevant stakeholders and feedback UCU’s concerns.
We are therefore shocked to hear from members that again this year the time between end of assessments (9th June) and exam marks release date (29th June) is less than three weeks. The likely marking deadline will be around the 15th June which will give less than a week for some staff to mark exams taken on the last day of the examination period. It is completely unreasonable of University management to expect staff to turnaround quality feedback and marking in such a short period of time. It is not realistic and physically feasible to do all the marking, along with other responsibilities in a 35 hour working week and you are asking staff to work evenings and weekends, which is unacceptable and has EDI implications (in particular for those with caring responsibilities). We believe this decision is in breach of the University’s H&S duties and will create unnecessary overwork and stress for a large number of staff.
We are asking the university management to:
- Explain why, in spite of vigorous pushback from SUCU and staff more widely, regardless of the detrimental impact on academic and professional staff wellbeing, senior management have decided to impose an even tighter marking schedule.
- Review the dates to allow adequate time for staff to assess and publish marks.
We look forward to receiving a prompt response so we can communicate accordingly with our members.
Kind regards
Southampton UCU