Postgraduate Taught degrees: Coronavirus mitigation measures 2020/21

Measures to mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic for students on PGT Master's degrees in 2020/21.

The University introduced a range of measures to mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic upon students completing their degrees during 2020/21. For students completing postgraduate taught Master's (MSc) degrees in 2021, the following mitigations will be relevant, in addition to the standard process for taking decisions under the Taught Assessment Regulations:

The University's Assessment Regulations

These measures do not apply to students starting Master's degrees in 2021/22 or later.

Resubmission of dissertations and research projects

We have increased eligibility to resubmit the dissertation or research project, where a student marginally fails at the first attempt.

• Students will be entitled to resubmit their dissertation or research project where they achieve a mark of 40-49 at the first attempt;
• Taught Assessment Regulation 58 explains what additional support is offered to students who resubmit, deadlines for submission, etc.

Merit and Distinction

We have amended the requirements for students to achieve Merit or Distinction.

• We have expanded the borderline range from 2% to 3%; this applies both to the taught and dissertation/project components;
• Where a student achieves a higher class in one component, and a borderline mark in the other component, they will be automatically upgraded to the higher class;
• For example, a student achieving an average of 67% for the taught component, and 70% in the dissertation/project will receive a Distinction.