Guidance to RSUA Members on responding to plight of graduating QUB students

23/06/23

As has been recently reported, architecture students who are due to graduate from Queen’s University Belfast this summer have been informed that they will graduate without a degree title or classification. This situation has arisen due to the ongoing national University and College Union’s (UCU’s) Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB) taking place across all UK universities.

This is a difficult time for the QUB architecture students and RSUA is taking the following actions to assist:

1. Issuing guidance to RSUA members on how they can help
2. Writing to the Vice Chancellor of QUB to call for a speedy resolution of the problem
3. Issuing a press release to the media in support of the students
4. Ensuring that QUB students do not miss out on the opportunity to win the RSUA Bronze or Silver Medals

Actions for architects as employers

If you are employing a QUB student who is graduating this summer, RSUA asks that you treat the unclassified degree as fully valid. This is particularly important if pay grades are associated with the level of qualification attained by staff.

If you are considering which students to interview for posts, RSUA asks that you do not discount an applicant on the basis of not seeing a degree classification. QUB students will have grades for some of their work until the MAB started and can present a portfolio of their work.

RSUA calls for a generosity of spirit in the shortlisting process this year and encourages employers to widen the pool of candidates who are invited to interview.

If you have any questions or other ideas on how we might help the QUB students, please do not hesitate to get in touch via info@rsua.org.uk