UCU: ‘laughable’ that agency staff could cover striking academics

This is laughable only if you think standards are important. Particularly true on many masters programmes that are popular with international students. Many students simply want a degree, some are happy to just give it to them. The stuff in between is mostly a charade - It only needs to appear to be rigorous. If you target the right kind of students, you can get away with it. In any case in many disciplines there is an abundance of PhDs of dubious quality, so there might be no trouble finding people for some courses. Visa restrictions are very loose these days so there might even be an international market for such jobs or you may find that your exams are sat in the UK but marked in marking sweatshops in a different country - just like how your clothes are manufactured or garbage dealt with. Anything is possible.........