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Professor Sasha Roseneil

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sasha Roseneil, emailed all staff earlier today, 11 September 2023. You can read the full text of her message below. 

Dear Colleagues,

Most of you will now know that last week UCU called off its marking and assessment boycott with immediate effect.
The last few months have been difficult and stressful for everyone in UK higher education. No one decides to take industrial action lightly, and I know that colleagues care deeply about our students and have been concerned about how they have been affected by the boycott. It is also right to acknowledge the additional burden the marking and assessment boycott has placed on many colleagues across the University, and I would like to offer my thanks to all those who have undertaken additional work in order to mitigate the impact of the boycott.

With the boycott now over, the priority is to mark and assess the work of our students that remains outstanding as soon as possible. Many of our students have had their degree results delayed and are unclear about their ability to progress because of the boycott and we must not prolong its effects on them any longer than necessary.

So, all outstanding marking and assessment should now be completed by 12 noon on Monday 2 October. If you have participated in the boycott and all your outstanding marking is complete by this deadline, or you have declared yourself available to mark and complete any marking assigned to you by that date, all salary deductions for your participation in the boycott will be returned.

I think I speak for everyone involved in saying that I very much hope that the ending of the marking and assessment boycott will lead to steps towards resolution of the ongoing dispute. There are no winners in this industrial action, and I continue to press nationally for an open and collaborative approach to negotiations that seeks the best possible outcome for staff within the context of the financial challenges faced by the sector.

Here at Sussex, we will continue work with all our unions to improve employment conditions locally, and to fully realise the commitments made in the University-UCU 16 week agreement. Over the coming weeks, I will be updating the community on the progress we have made so far and on the work we plan to do this year.