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Graduation fees to be abolished for this year’s ceremony

They’re using the funds withheld from staff strikes


The rumour that our uni is the most expensive to graduate from will no longer be true. From this point forward, the general council charge of £50 required to graduate shall be put to a halt. Those who have paid the fee will be contacted via their student email addresses in order to arrange a refund.

In early 2017, a decision had been made to abolish this fee from 2019. Following several angry social media comments regarding the cost of graduating for students, a proposal to terminate the fee a year earlier was put forward.

Luckily, due to funds being withheld from the staff who took part in the strikes earlier this year, this has been possible.

The decision to terminate graduation fees a year early came after a total of £775,000 was withheld from the members of staff that took industrial action.

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How best to use this money was decided by the Student Experience Committee, who, with the support of the SRC, have decided to allocate the funds to five separate causes. Among these include student mental health support, the creation of scholarships for refugees and those with low-income backgrounds, and of course, the abolishment of the general council fee.

In deciding how to share this money, SRC President Kate Powell has said that the UCU trade union wanted the funds to be spent on the student experience. She assures us that they have identified the priorities that will make a difference.

@nxttgrxxn