Students should be able to graduate with some exams unmarked, vice-chancellor Deborah Prentice has recommended in regulations set for the new year.

In case of strikes, students who have completed degree requirements – even if they have outstanding information – can graduate, the regulations advise. They would receive a class and mark at a later date.

This guidance comes after the marking and assessment boycott (MAB) left 2023 graduations hugely disrupted. Finalists could not graduate if they had exams unmarked, even if they had met all their degree requirements.

This left students’ futures impacted, especially “those already most vulnerable, including international students, estranged students and those reliant on scholarships for funding”.

Following the MAB, the University set up a group to review the measures taken in case of strikes, producing new recommendations. The review set out to protect “student interests” while still maintaining academic standards.

As well as allowing students to graduate with exams unmarked, the report suggests examinations should be allowed to take place later than originally planned. It also allows for examiners’ meetings to go ahead even if an examiner fails to attend – presumably due to strikes.

The proposed regulations would also allow postgraduate exams to be postponed in case of strike action.

The group behind the guidance – which included members of the University and former SU President Fergus Kirman – was established in Michaelmas 2023.

In May 2023, the University attempted to mitigate the MAB’s effects on students by passing emergency powers through the Regent House. They did not pass. New regulations would make emergency powers unnecessary in case of another strike.

The recommendations were signed off by senior University staff, including vice-chancellor Deborah Prentice and Bhaskar Vira, pro-vice chancellor for Education.

Phase Two of the review will clarify the regulations and determine whether they should remain subject to approval by Regent House, the University’s governing policy. This is set to be completed in Michaelmas Term 2024, before being implemented in Michaelmas 2025.

The University of Cambridge and Cambridge UCU both declined to comment.