How to support DC affected by strikes at Nottingham Uni

[Anonymouse27]

DC is in final year at Nottingham Uni. Obviously paid the full tuition fee and had less than 20% of promised tuition. Been advised that strikes will continue until December. Coursework deadlines have been pushed back due to cancelled lessons. Then told coursework will be replaced by exam later on.

Also following press release about cuts to courses, lots of staff leaving anyway.

I and she have emailed the Vice Chancellor and I have a reply to say that if DC feels that they have been negatively impacted they have to make an official complaint using the complaints process.

I completely support the lecturers and I said so in my email. I am devastated that my daughter might not get her hoped for result this year due to so many lectures being cancelled.

I am not sure if it will make any difference if she does the complaints procedure and I am sure it will stress her out.

Any advice, please. For her and to support the staff. Thanks.

I would complain and ask what they are doing to make sure students can get their degrees. I’m not sure how it would be possible to get them if there’s less then 20% of tuition unless they’re coming up with a plan to catch everyone up in the second half or to repeat the year.

It's utterly bonkers! The fact that the lecturers have already said striking Nov and Dec. The Uni telling me that the site is open and "most" courses have not missed much so it should be fine. I don't know if I'm being a drama queen!

They have said that her dept should mitigate any detriment due to striking. If they have not mitigated the detriment, DC should use the student complaint procedure accordingly.

There does not seem to be any route to complaint for parents. I suppose I could email the Vice Chancellor again to give my response.

Please complain. Hopefully other families will complain and this will help show what they are doing to students isn't acceptable.

It's a disgrace and I think it will lead to a mass of students taking legal action. They are paying for a course that advertised itself as Xhours, coursework, exams and they are not getting what they signed up for.

This is nothing new - strikes have been going on for several years in many unis. A few years back there was a marking ban and lots of students had to graduate not knowing if they had actually passed their degree, or what classification they had achieved. This had serious ramifications for those wanting to progress onto Masters courses, and even some job offers.
I don't recall anyone getting any compensation etc

I don't think there is a route for parents to complain, because parents are not the "customer" - the students are legal adults, taking out their own loans to pay fees etc etc.

Yes, this is what I said to her. She needs to flag her concerns now and give them a chance to put it right. If she worries in silence and then ends up with poor marks, she won't have a leg to stand on I think.

I am very happy with the facilities but £10k for c 12 hours per week face to face time for probably less than 26 weeks already seems extortionate and now she is getting even less.

I appreciate she has to stand on her own two feet. What about as a concerned member of the public then?

Or as an HCPC who already had a newly qualified AHP who was expected Sept 2025 and didn't start til end of Oct due to exam board delays.

Or a taxpayer when Universities benefit from government grant funding and student loans etc.

I passionately believe in education and am very unhappy about this in lots of ways. I will email the vice chancellor again on my own behalf and encourage DC to follow advice given. (She sent her own email and got her own reply with advice).

I sympathise. DC1 was impacted by strikes at UON two years ago, 50% of his second year work was never marked and his year 2 grade was based on just the first six months of that year that was.
Not sure what the answer is.

Unfortunately (and I also have a child at uni and a DH who was studying during an earlier set of strikes) strikes are effective because they inconvenience customers and interrupt 'business'.

It's limited what the university can do to catch up - some striking staff will do extra work with students when they return but strictly, they shouldn't do this over and above normal working hours - or they negate the point of striking.

My DS has been lucky to have never been affected by a uni strike at all. He did economics and none of the unis he was at ever had their economics department strike. The staff actually did their jobs for once.

The staff actually did their jobs for once.

Do you think striking should be illegal?

They should just do their jobs.

And not go on strike?

Yes

So you think striking in general should be illegal? Or that university staff/staff working in education should be excluded from groups that can legally strike?

You clearly do not have a tiny bit of knowledge of how hard lecturers work. It’s not just the time in class, it’s preparation, marking, research, administration. Universities exploit academics’ willingness to work long hours to keep institutions running.

My children were at university from 2017 - 2023 and both of them had months and months of strike action, and my daughter has a marking strike and attended the graduation ceremony without actually knowing whether she had graduated. No compensation, no help, no reduction in fees. It’s been going on for years.

I handle complaints at a university and respond to the student complaints about the endless strikes (no I’ve never gone on strike myself). They won’t do anything, strikes are allowed and staff are entitled. Everyone just gets less education for the same money, the striking staff take a pay cut, and the senior leaders carry on making silly money.

Not illegal but your employers should be allowed to sanction, penalise and ultimately fire you for not going to work.

My DC is fortunate that he missed not a single lecture, seminar or exam.

Are the lecturers so badly paid they can't make ends meet? Methinks not.

But how do the students get their degrees if they’ve missed lectures, seminars, labs due to the strikes? If they’ve had less education then their degrees won’t be worth as much?

I do wonder what the points of these kinds of comment are.

‘How can I support my child whose lecturers are on strike?’

’I am fine as my kid’s lecturers never went on strike’.

I see it a lot on different threads and wonder why people feel they have to share that their experience was much better. Just musing.

Not illegal but your employers should be allowed to sanction, penalise and ultimately fire you for not going to work.

This equates to removing the right to strike.
(you do understand that workers aren’t paid whilst on strike, right?)

Are the lecturers so badly paid they can't make ends meet? Methinks not.

Well, that’s a sweeping generalisation. There are many grades of lecturer, and some aren’t paid very well at all. But also, strikes can be against other terms and conditions, such as persistently keeping people on temporary, insecure contracts.

Additonally - as I am sure you are aware - if you are in a union, and your union votes to strike, you need to strike in solidarity, whether or not you voted for the strike or whether that particular issue personally affects you. That’s why it’s called collective action.

Would you recommend a young person apply to Nottingham or swerve it?

When my DS was at university some departments would strike and others would not.

I feel for the OP. I'm on the side of the students, not on the striking staff who should bloody do their job.

It's sad to see students pay £ks for an education and to simply not receive it.

Honestly, it's been fabulous up until now and I would have wholeheartedly recommended.

If you were thinking of a "core" subject like English, Law, Psychology, I think it would be fine. Otherwise swerve.

They have been excellent for disability support as well. I am not sure how that will change.