Confirmed: Summer exams WILL be disrupted by the strikes

Lecturers and university staff at 65 universities are planning another 14 days of strikes in the summer, with the second set of strikes set to clash with finalist exams.

They are compiling a spreadsheet with the specific dates of exams, in order to walk out on the 14 busiest days and cause the most disruption.

The proposed action comes after the 65 individual university-based branches of the UCU overwhelmingly rejected the deal between the UCU and UUK on Monday.

This comes as a fresh blow to students and universities who believed that this week could see an end to the recent strike action.

It appears the strikes now pose a real threat to finalists and there's a growing concern regarding the actual invigilation of the exams.

Individual universities source external examiners to mark the exams, who are often lecturers from other universities.

University of Warwick said they will use "alternative resources" so that exams are not affected, or at least that "the impact is largely mitigated".

Other universities are following suit by drafting contingency plans so that if their staff are out on strike during the exam period, the disruption is limited.

The UCU is currently in the process of giving its members guidance on the second wave of strike action and the official strike timetable is set to be released at some point next week.