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NUS Faces Marking Boycott RebellionFri, April 21, 2006Source: Guardian UnlimitedDisgruntled student unions are considering forming a breakaway group as the National Union of Students (NUS) continues to back a marking boycott by lecturers.Disgruntled student unions are considering forming a breakaway group as the National Union of Students (NUS) continues to back a marking boycott by lecturers. The move comes as striking lecturers from the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and Natfhe meet employers for urgent mediation talks, possibly tomorrow. The AUT, Natfhe and the University and Colleges Employers' Association (Ucea) yesterday agreed to third-party mediation with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) in a bid to break the deadlock over the lecturers' 23% pay demands. The AUT's general secretary, Sally Hunt, said the union had been requesting talks for months and welcomed Ucea's agreement to take the issue to Acas. She said: "The Acas talks are a start, but we want to be sat down in serious pay negotiations thrashing out a deal to get the boycott stopped as soon as possible. We hope the employers are equally committed and will maybe now stop trying to find all sorts of ridiculous excuses to prolong the dispute." As lecturers continue to refuse to mark students' work until their demands are met, Alain Desmier, the president of the students' guild at Exeter, said the NUS was ignoring the needs of students which had left them no longer feeling aligned to the national body. The NUS supports the industrial action, which also includes a ban on AUT members setting exams, despite increasing opposition from student unions across England. Natfhe has taken a different approach and encouraged members to set exams. Mr Desmier said: "We feel our needs have not been listened to and although we do have sympathy for the lecturers, we feel very the strongly that the AUT is using students as pawns." Last week, student unions from at least 20 universities, including Exeter, broke ranks with the NUS and condemned striking lecturers for refusing to mark their work. The students sent a letter to Ms Hunt, urging her to lift the ban. Mr Desmier said a meeting of several student unions from the 1994 group of universities would be held next month to "look at the NUS policy from the bottom up to get an understanding of why they support this." "At the moment, we really have no idea why they are supporting but it [the marking ban] may have something to do with the historical ties to other trade unions," Mr Desmier said. Mr Desmier said he was concerned that Natfhe and AUT were "playing with students for political reasons." Jocelyn Prudence, the chief executive of Ucea, said students were becoming increasingly concerned that they would not graduate on time because of the marking boycott. However, Ms Prudence said she believed it was not a blanket marking ban and staff at many institutions were not following the instructions of the AUT or Natfhe. Ms Prudence said: "It now seems the dispute is heavily influenced by the politics of the [AUT-Natfhe] merger." Ucea, Natfhe and the AUT are also due to meet tomorrow for a separate discussion on higher education funding. Ms Prudence said: "The unions think the sector is awash with money and we have a different view to that so we are aiming to reach a better understanding of the various income streams." Meanwhile, as the dispute becomes increasingly bitter, lawyers have told students they could sue universities for breach of contract, the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) reported today. Emma Turner, a lawyer from Sinclairs Solicitors in Cardiff, told the THES that her firm was planning to visit universities across the country to talk to students about their rights. Ms Turner told THES: "If students are paying for their course partly out of their own pockets, they will be concerned to make sure they are getting what they are contracted to get. There could be a case of breach of contract if the boycott is having a different effect on their study." |