Finger points at managers

40 per cent of students say those in charge are responsible for the pay dispute. Jessica Shepherd reports.

Two fifths of students blame university managers for the lecturers' pay dispute while an eighth point the finger at academics, a poll reveals.

A survey of 1,046 undergraduates, conducted exclusively for The Times Higher by Opinionpanel Research, shows that students are more likely to hold university managers responsible for causing the dispute than lecturers or unions.

The poll found that 40 per cent of students blamed managers, per cent held academic unions responsible and 12 per cent blamed academics. Some 36 per cent said they did not know who was to blame or believed no one was to blame.

The survey shows that students increasingly oppose the assessment and marking boycott.

An Opinionpanel poll for The Times Higher earlier this month revealed that 77 per cent of students opposed the boycott. In this latest survey, student opposition has climbed to 80 per cent.

Academics' refusal to mark and, in some cases, set exams and coursework has also left students confused.

Some 19 per cent of those polled said they did not know whether their exams had been cancelled or not. Three per cent told pollsters that their exams had been cancelled.

Julian Nicholds, vice-president of the National Union of Students, said:

"Many students feel that most of the blame for the situation lies with university employers, who, by refusing for weeks to meet with lecturers, have prolonged the resolution of the dispute into the busy exam period.

"What is worrying is that some universities have obviously not provided their students with clear guidance on whether their exams or assessments are likely to be set or marked."

A spokesman for the Universities and Colleges Employers' Association said:

"General sympathy among students for their lecturers is understandable.

"However, the growing majority of students who reject the unions' tactics shows that the Association of University Teachers and lecturers' union Natfhe are losing whatever support they might have had. It's high time the unions heeded calls from ministers, parents and students and put the pay offer to all their members."

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the AUT, said: "I think that, as the facts behind the pay dispute are better understood, more students share our frustrations that the employers have allowed this dispute to rumble on for so long."

jessica.shepherd@thes.co.uk

Opinionpanel conducted the poll in the first week of May.