Students affected by strikes set for compensation

University students whose lessons were disrupted by strikes are set to receive compensation.

Some classes at Newcastle University were cancelled when staff carried out industrial action between March and June in response to planned job cuts.

Students affected by the strikes will be paid between £100 and £600, depending on how many of their modules were disrupted.

The university said the compensation was being paid for "missed teaching" following industry guidance from the Office for Students (OfS).

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) initially announced they were walking out for 14 days in April after Newcastle University said it was attempting to cut £20m from its salary bill.

It is thought the figure equates to the loss of about 300 jobs.

Staff later announced a further three days of strike action in May.

However, on Friday the industrial dispute ended when the UCU said it had received assurances from the university no further job losses would be made until next year. More than 200 staff have already taken voluntary severance.

The level of compensation each student receives will depend on how many of their teaching modules were disrupted and whether they pay home fees or international fees.

Home fee-paying students will be handed £100 of compensation for each teaching module disrupted, up to a maximum of £600.

International fee-payers will receive £200 of compensation, with an upper limit of £1,200.

A module is classed as disrupted if "teaching has been missed due to industrial action and it has not been possible to repeat or replace", the university said.

However, the compensation formula does not take into account how many lessons within a module were affected by the strikes.

This means a student who had one lesson disrupted would receive the same compensation as another who had three lessons disrupted in the same module.

"We have taken a standardised approach calculated at module level, rather than total hours missed, so that compensation can be administered quickly to students, in line with the expectations from OfS," a university spokesperson said.

The Office for Students said it does not intervene in industrial disputes but students should be paid "appropriate compensation" when their education is interrupted.

"The OfS does not set the levels of compensation, but universities should ensure it is fair and takes into account the scale of disruption faced by students," a spokesperson said.

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