Newcastle University confirm students will not receive refunds for lectures missed during UCU strikes

Newcastle University have confirmed they are not considering compensating students for the hours of teaching which have been missed during the UCU lecturer strikes.

Yesterday a Newcastle University spokesperson told The Tab Newcastle: "We understand the level of concern among our students and are working hard to minimise the impact of this industrial action. At the moment, the University is not considering any form of reduction in fees or compensation as we still don’t know the extent of any industrial action or the impact it will have on individual students or groups."

"Any money withheld from staff as a result of strike action will be used for the collective good of all students for example, the Student Hardship fund and our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Chris Day met with the President of Newcastle University Students’ Union yesterday to discuss this."

Student protesters

When students were initially informed of the industrial action, they were told that lecturers would not be paid for days on which they were striking and many students had hoped that this money would be used to reimburse tuition fees.

Over 6,000 Newcastle Uni students have already signed a petition, asking for tuition fees to be refunded. This can still be signed here.

On the contrary King's College London is offering refunds to students for the lecturer strikes.

The strikes are currently in their third week of running and are set to continue until the end of next week. Sally Hunt, the General Secretary of the UCU, recently announced plans to escalate the strikes, possibly lasting five months and endangering final exams.

Negotiations began between the UCU and UUK on Monday, March 5th, and may prove decisive in determining how much longer strikes will run.

One thing that we do know, however, is that Newcastle students will not see any compensation for their missed teaching hours.