UNIVERSITY vice-chancellors are to cut the pay of lecturers who refuse to set, invigilate or mark students’ exams and coursework.

The move came as Alan Johnson, the new Education Secretary, called on academics to end their boycott, which threatens to disrupt the graduation of up to 300,000 students this summer. Many students are due to start exams next week.

Lecturers, led by the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and its sister union Natfhe, are calling for a 23 per cent pay rise over three years. They have refused the latest 12.6 per cent offer.

More than 20 universities have told the Universities and College Employers Association (UCEA) that they will dock staff pay by between 10 and 100 per cent.

Michael Sterling, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, said: “The employer has to send a letter asking staff to inform him when they are starting the action. From that point on, the employer will deduct different amounts from their pay according to the university’s point of view.”

Professor Sterling, who chairs the Russell Group of universities, informed his staff of the proposed action in January. He is docking 10 per cent and says that 150 of Birmingham’s academics are taking industrial action, fewer than 5 per cent of the whole.

Birmingham, where exams are taken earlier, will award degrees to students on the basis of exams sat and papers marked. A “no-detriment clause” means that degree results will only be revised up, not down.

At Northumbria University, staff will find their pay cut completely until they return to working full-time. Salaries will also be cut or withheld at Sunderland, Coventry and Strathclyde universities.

The dispute worsened this week after the AUT and Natfhe rejected the universities’ 12.6 per cent rise over three years as falling far short of the increase sought. AUT delegates meeting in Scarborough yesterday voted to continue their boycott.

The unions have so far refused to put the offer to members. This week, AUT members at St Andrews voted to accept a local 12.5 per cent deal over three years offered by the university, but they were overruled by AUT Scotland.

Intervening for the first time, Mr Johnson urged lecturers to accept the “very generous” deal and end their action. He added that it would be “incredible” if union leaders did not put the 12.6 per cent pay offer to their members.

“The employers have made a very decent offer, actually a very generous offer, but I hope the unions now put it to their members,” he said. “I think if they do it will be accepted. For the unions not to put that to the members would be incredible.”

Boris Johnson, the Shadow Minister for Higher Education, said that the strike had gone on long enough and he called on the unions to put the offer to members.

“Lecturers have a legitimate grievance,” he said, “but it is not right that students across the country should be penalised and potentially robbed of their degrees by this action. I join with the Secretary of State in urging the unions to put the latest deal to their members for them to decide.”

Alan Johnson, who was the Higher Education Minister who pushed through tuition fees, said that it was not for him to “step in” and resolve the dispute, but he emphasised the significance of the latest offer.

He was speaking as AUT delegates discussed the dispute at the union’s annual council meeting.

Sally Hunt, the AUT general secretary, said that the row must be resolved soon to avoid “meltdown” at universities this summer. She said that members had been debating the pay issue since arriving in Scarborough. “They gave a clear democratic mandate in a unanimous vote to reject the offer and continue with the assessment boycott,” she said. “What is clear is that this dispute will end when, and only when, there is a decent and credible offer on the table.”

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