The letter told Dias that, as Edinburgh was among the more than 100 British universities hit by a staff boycott of marking and assessment this year, the assignments she had completed had not all been graded, and it could not award her a degree.
Left in limbo, with little clarity on when the situation may be resolved, many cannot take up job offers or progress to postgraduate study, and international students whose visas are coming to an end face having to return home. But fellow American Anna Hendricks, who was due to start a postgraduate law course in the UK in September, said her future institution had not accepted a letter from the University of Edinburgh because it lacked details.The University of Edinburgh said 27% of final year students had not received their degree at the time of graduation.
But the University and College Union , which represents more than 120 000 staff, is still staging a boycott from April to the end of September over what it says is a 25% pay cut since 2009. Scottish student Ailsa Watt, who wore a 'pay your staff' sash, blamed the University of Edinburgh for not finding a solution. Watt, who studied Spanish and Chinese, faces not being able to take up a teaching job in Shanghai without her degree certificate.More than 140 universities have been impacted, including some of the most internationally renowned.
The government has largely stayed silent, with education minister Gillian Keegan this month saying the dispute was between universities and their lecturers, although she urged a resolution.