STUDENT confusion reigned on Friday over witholding the release of Monash semester results, with some citing anger over union-imposed bans potentially affecting them.
The National Tertiary Education Union and Monash have been locked in enterprise bargaining negotiations for almost 11 months, leading the union to announce last month it was imposing bans on the release of some exam results across campuses including Gippsland.
While a range of exemptions were outlined by the union at the time, late last week Monash advised students NTEU had suspended its semester one results ban “specific exemption process”.
Monash Acting Provost Pauline Nestor told students it was the university’s understanding the NTEU was “no longer accepting applications from students for a specific individual exemption” until tomorrow.
Monash told students NTEU advice suggested students who had previously applied for exemptions but had not been notified of an outcome would need to reapply from tomorrow.
“The university is disappointed that the NTEU is providing inconsistent and conflicting advice regarding the results ban and is continuing to explore avenues to bring the industrial action to an end,” Professor Nestor said.
“The university is continuing to do everything it can to minimise any disruption the NTEU bans are causing students.”
Monash said all results submitted into the student information system would be published today, the official results release date.
When the action was first announced numerous students expressed frustration that a dispute between other parties would negatively impact them.
The NTEU apologised to students but said it hoped the “longer-term outcomes” of its action would “provide a better educational environment for all” and accused the senior Monash management of failing to “even make an offer” in the enterprise bargaining process.
Despite repeated attempts to speak with the NTEU on Friday, representatives were unavailable for comment.
