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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Anna Fazackerley

Students at top London university urged to ‘snitch’ on striking lecturers

Universities and Colleges Union members picket the University of Birmingham on a national day of action last month.
Universities and Colleges Union members picket the University of Birmingham on a national day of action last month. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

A prestigious London university has become the first in the country to use a “student snitch form” to encourage students to report striking staff, while threatening to dock full pay for 39 days if those named fail to reschedule missed teaching.

Queen Mary University of London was branded the “worst university employer in the UK” by the Universities and Colleges Union last July, after it deducted 21 days of full pay from more than 100 staff who refused to mark students’ work in June as part of a national boycott. But staff claim the university, a member of the esteemed Russell Group, has reached a new low and “destroyed trust” by “turning students into spies” to gather data on who went on strike in November and February, and which classes have not been rescheduled.

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