The head of a management school has defended his decision to upgrade student marks against the advice of external examiners ¨C by claiming that disgruntled staff members had marked down students deliberately in anger at his methods.

Nigel Piercy, dean of Swansea University¡¯s School of Management, made the comments in an email to members of staff and Swansea student newspaper , on 30 July, scathing comments about the ¡°rescaling¡± of final-year marks in the school¡¯s economics BSc.

In a leaked external examiner¡¯s report, Robin Bladen-Hovell, a professor at Keele University¡¯s Management School, describes the ¡°substantial¡± upgrading ¨C which saw one student¡¯s mark lifted from 2 to 31 per cent ¨C as a ¡°gross debasing of standards¡±.

¡°If I were a cynic, I might be tempted to conclude that [it] is a blatant attempt by the management team to increase league table performance by manipulation of degree outcomes,¡± he adds.

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As Times Higher Education has previously reported, tensions at the school have been raised by increased teaching loads and allegedly aggressive management since Professor Piercy¡¯s arrival in May 2013, while he has told staff that the school is ¡°not a rest home for refugees from the 1960s¡±.

Professor Piercy writes in an email sent to staff on 4 August: ¡°As a result of the political behaviour of colleagues to attack a legitimate evaluation process in pursuit of their own ends, our students are paying the price.¡± He says rescaling is a ¡°completely acceptable practice¡± that is ¡°widely used¡± elsewhere.

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He also claims that Professor Bladen-Hovell has ¡°not published since 2004¡± and says that his behaviour during the exam board visit ¡°was such that we have written a letter of complaint to his [vice-chancellor]. Using profane language and aggression towards our staff is not acceptable.¡±

Professor Bladen-Hovell told É«ºÐÖ±²¥ that the comments ¡°appear [to be] an attempt to shore up [Professor Piercy¡¯s] own position by attacking my professional integrity and credibility. [They] reflect very poorly on him and the allegations about my behaviour do not match my recollection of events.¡± He said Swansea¡¯s registrar, Raymond Ciborowski, had ¡°agreed to pursue the matter¡±.

On 5 August, Professor Piercy emailed staff to highlight the school¡¯s achievements. Welcoming recent publicity, he adds: ¡°Encouragingly, we even have our own internet trolls now¡­though I fear they are mainly certain members of our own staff and seemingly one of the PVCs [pro vice-chancellors].¡±

É«ºÐÖ±²¥ understands that after being tipped off about the rescaling, Swansea¡¯s Teaching and Learning Committee, chaired by Alan Speight, pro vice-chancellor for student experience and academic quality enhancement, vetoed a similar approach to first- and second-year exam scores.

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Swansea¡¯s School of Management has since withdrawn its recognition of the committee¡¯s authority and intends to bring a motion of no confidence in Professor Speight at the next university senate meeting in October. Professor Speight did not respond to an invitation to comment.

A spokeswoman for Swansea said: ¡°Decisive action was taken at an early stage to rectify that issue, prior to the receipt of the external examiner¡¯s full report¡­Scaling adjustments were made in three of 51 final-year undergraduate modules¡­based on specific circumstances which were made known to the external examiners.¡±

paul.jump@tsleducation.com