Dear students,

On 24 May, UCU@GCU published the blog post ‘Students – we believe management are endangering the integrity of your degree –UCU@GCU’. In it, we expressed our worry that GCU management has implemented corner-cutting measures in marking and assessment that may endanger the integrity of your degree. GCU management has implemented these measures in order to try to get around the lawful Marking and Assessment Boycott that UCU has needed to activate. UCU has taken such action in an attempt, finally, to get the University and College Employers’ Association back round the negotiating table in the current industrial dispute.

Among other things, we worry that the marks and grades that you receive as a result of these temporary measures may not properly reflect the effort that you have put into your studies during your time at GCU. This may result, among other things, in employers and accreditation bodies choosing not to risk taking on students who graduate this year.

If, then, you feel you have any cause to feel angry or suspicious about the marks or grades that you have received, remember that every student has the right to appeal an assessment board decision on their marks and grades. The appeals process can be found in the university’s Academic Appeals Policy and Procedures document, at

Yours in solidarity,

UCU Branch Committee, Glasgow Caledonian University