Joanna Gosling is outraged that, because of the university lecturers’ marking boycott, her daughter was offered a handshake instead of a degree grade at her graduation ceremony (News Review, last week). She is certainly not alone. Despite his hard work and £30,000 in fees, my son received a poem in lieu of a degree certificate from Leeds University.
There was no mention of when degrees will be awarded – if at all. This has caused great difficulty with his acceptance on a master’s course at another Russell group university. And I have no faith that he will have sufficient evidence of academic achievement to show future employers. I suspect a poem will not help.
My advice to new joiners this year would be
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