UK universities are scrambling to make contingency plans amid fears that the mass resignation of external examiners could cause chaos during exam season.

Academics are refusing to take part in the system that upholds standards across the sector as part of ongoing industrial action over pension cuts and pay and working conditions.

In response to a steady stream of resignations over the past few weeks, some universities are already looking at using emergency measures that could see the external oversight system bypassed altogether – a move critics say would devalue degrees. 

Meredith Warren, senior lecturer in biblical and religious studies at the University of Sheffield, has been keeping track of the resignations, and her spreadsheet shows that there had been 231 by 28 March.

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Universities across the board are affected but particularly Queen Mary University of London, where there has also been a local dispute, as well as UCL, King’s College London and the University of Leeds. Dr Warren predicted that the resignations could eventually bring the mechanisms for how universities approve degrees “grinding to a halt”.

Matthew Paterson, professor in international politics at the University of Manchester, has resigned as an external examiner at Lancaster University.

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“I think people are doing it for two interrelated reasons; it does have a potential pay-off,” he said. “You could actually achieve something that the strikes themselves don’t seem to be doing. If you have a few institutions failing to award degrees, that could be quite an interesting crisis.

“The other bit of it is desperation really: I can’t do it any more, I don’t have the goodwill to work for minimum wage for that sort of work. The workloads across the board have become intolerable. Looking ahead to June, I have no idea where I will find that week to do the work.”

Philip Swanson, Hughes professor of Spanish at the University of Sheffield, has also stepped back from external examiner positions at the universities of St Andrews and Birmingham.

He said he was “no militant” and had not taken industrial action before but described himself as being “slightly radicalised” by the changes in academia over the past decade, pointing to “very top-down management” and a “lack of emphasis on academic values”.

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“I’m 62, so in some ways I’m not doing this for myself as I haven’t got that long to go. But it is really about the future of my profession and discipline and the quality that is going to be on offer to future students,” he said.

Professor Swanson said his impression so far was that universities plan to “soak up the pressure and hope it fizzles out”. But there were signs that institutions were becoming increasingly concerned about the possible impact of the resignations – and a broader marking boycott that could be called by the University and College Union – over the exam period.

The University of Kent’s senate has passed a motion allowing meetings of boards of examiners to go ahead even if attendance is restricted by the dispute. It will have full decision-making authority as long as it is attended by a “senior participant external to the school” if no external examiners are available. A spokesman stressed that the institution still plans to complete the external examination process as normal.

Assessment teams at King’s College London have been told that emergency regulations will be used if needed “to allow progression/award where performance is prevented by events which may be beyond the control of the college”.

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A King’s spokeswoman said: “Our external process has not been disrupted or changed, and we will only use emergency regulations when needed to respond to circumstances as appropriate.”

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com