LECTURERS at The University College for the Creative Arts in Farnham have been threatened with drastic pay cuts if they continue to take part in a recent industrial dispute that could see as many as 80 per cent of students being unable to graduate at the end of the academic year. Staff at UCCA in Farnham were issued with a letter last week, informing them that their pay would be docked by 20 per cent if they continued to provide only partial performance as a result of taking part in a nationwide marking boycott over pay and conditions, set to affect thousands of students across the country. Failure to reach any kind of agreement has led to a stand-off between the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) and the University and Colleges Employers' Association (UCEA), which has been raging since last year. A spokesman for UCCA said: "We have written to all our staff this week to let them know how concerned we are at the effect the ongoing industrial action being taken by some NATFHE members is having on our students. "The withholding of marks by a number of academic staff poses a potential risk to the ability of our students to graduate or progress with their studies as planned. "The decision to implement the withdrawing of pay has not been taken lightly and we have delayed such a response for two months in the hope that the dispute would be settled nationally before students were seriously affected." Despite claims of a two-month wait, the original proposal for action was filed last October and a leading member of NATFHE believes the problem was sat on for too long. Martin Pover, chairman of NATFHE's Farnham branch, said: "We've given them six months now to sort this out and they haven't got around to this until just recently. Most people are very angry at the response of the university college and in my opinion it's illegal for them to dock pay as there is no penalty clause written into the contracts. "I would estimate that most students won't graduate if this action continues. Probably 80 per cent won't be getting a grade for their degree, they will receive an unclassified degree, which means they probably won't be able to take part in a graduation ceremony either." Despite this, Mr Pover wasn't fearful of a student backlash and praised the National Union of Students (NUS) for its continued support. "We won't be deterred in our action because of this letter as we're absolutely committed to this, and for once we are going to do something about it," he said. "Our suggestion is to postpone the graduation event until next September because it's best to do these things properly and take time over them so that it doesn't end up half-baked. "NATFHE supported the NUS in opposing the introduction of top-up fees, and now it is supporting us because the students are being hit hardest by the situation." A lecturer at the university college, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "I feel that it's such a shame that a satisfactory conclusion to this hasn't been reached yet. When you have been studying for three years, then you really need to know what you received in the way of marks. "Working at Farnham is great and teaching students is what we live for, so nobody wants to upset them. Those who have taken action have done it because it is the last thing they could do in this ongoing problem. I think it's sad that they've had to resort to that. "Everyone is going to be thinking very hard about what they will do next week and it will be a very individual response to this letter, based on people's income and various other factors as to whether they will accept it or not. "At the moment both the college and the union are still in negotiations but I'm hopeful that there will be a resolution to it soon."