Oxford University yesterday said it was trying to prevent exam disruption, despite threatened boycotts by lecturers.

Fears have grown that strike action over pay could start to take its toll on students as the exam season looms.

Some members of the Association of University Teachers and Natfhe unions are refusing to set, mark or invigilate exams and coursework as part of industrial action.

The exam boycott started in March, following a one-day strike, when lecturers in Oxford refused to use university buildings.

Now the degrees standards watchdog, the Qualification Assurance Agency, has warned that emergency measures brought in to award degrees threaten to devalue qualifications.

Several institutions are preparing to give degrees before students get their full results.

But a spokesman for Oxford University said all examinations had been set as planned.

Candidates are being instructed to hand in work for assessment in accordance with the published deadlines, and to turn up for their written papers within the issued timetables, unless told otherwise.