Assessment: a package of measures to mitigate the impact of Coronavirus

We have removed barriers from students accessing extra time to complete coursework assessments.

• Students can apply for a 7-day extension to a deadline for coursework, which will be approved automatically (i.e. they do not need to demonstrate a valid reason);
• Where an extension of less than 7 days is normally the maximum permitted, this will be approved automatically; some assessments (e.g. for weekly assessments) do not allow extensions;
• Where students require an extension of longer than 7 days, they can apply through the Special Circumstances process;
• Some Schools have already amended deadlines for coursework or dissertations, or offered blanket extensions to all students; we have encouraged all Schools to consider where they may be able to do this, while also ensuring students receive timely feedback on assessment.

We have removed the requirement to provide formal documentation with applications for Special Circumstances.

• Students do not need to provide medical evidence in support of applications relating to health concerns;
• Students also do not need to provide formal documentary evidence (e.g. from government, or external agencies) to support other types of application;
• Students should provide a clear description of the circumstances and their impact, and supporting evidence from other sources, e.g. University staff, wherever possible.

We have expanded the range of circumstances covered by Special Circumstances, to reflect the impact of Covid-19. These include situations where a student has:

• Been ill with Covid-19;
• Experienced the exacerbation of an existing health condition due to the pandemic situation;
• Experienced the death or serious illness of someone close to them;
• Taken on exceptional caring responsibilities due to Covid-19;
• Been required to carry out more paid work than usual, as a “key worker” (e.g. in healthcare, retail, delivery);
• Experienced significant and prolonged problems with access to teaching and learning materials, e.g. due to connectivity, power, or equipment issues;
• Experienced catastrophic technical failure preventing submission of an online assessment by the relevant deadline;
• Experienced prolonged exposure to a difficult/challenging home environment;
• Experienced severe financial difficulties as a result of the pandemic;
• Experienced lack of access to library resources where there are no viable alternatives.

If one or more of these circumstances has negatively affected your performance in assessment, please submit a Special Circumstances application to make sure your School can take account of this.

Extensions and Special Circumstances

If your application for Special Circumstances is accepted, the Board of Examiners will decide what is the appropriate action to take in relation to any affected courses, or your programme. Actions they can take include:

• Disregarding any penalties for work submitted late without an extension;
• Taking account of the circumstances where a student is on the borderline for progression, or classification;
• Offering reassessment for courses as a “first attempt”;
• Discounting marks for an assessment when calculating a course result;
• Discounting a course result when calculating classification.

Extensions and Special Circumstances

Information about Boards of Examiners

We have amended requirements for progression from Years 1 and 2, reducing the need for students to undertake reassessments in the summer for failed courses.

• Where a student fails up to 40 credits of “outside” courses (i.e. courses which are not core to their programme of study), they can be awarded credit for the failed courses “on aggregate”;
• This means that where a student has passed their other 80 or more credits, and has an average for all courses completed this year (including the failed courses) of more than 40%, they can be given the credit for the failed courses;
• Where credit has been awarded on aggregate for a course, students do not need to resit failed assessments;
• On some professional or accredited programmes, credit cannot be awarded in this way for some courses due to external requirements;
• Students will need to take reassessments for failed “core” courses, as well as courses with professional requirements;
• Students who fail more than 40 credits’ worth of courses in a year will also need to take reassessments.

Some Schools which set additional requirements for progression into Year 3 (e.g. a requirement to pass some courses at 50% at the first attempt) will be relaxing these requirements. Additional requirements may be retained where they are needed to meet expectations set by professional or accrediting bodies, or where students need to demonstrate language competency before study abroad.

We have amended requirements for progression in Year 3 and 4, and for award of degrees in Year 4 or 5, allowing students to gain credit for a larger volume of failed courses.

• Where a student this session fails up to 60 credits in Year 3, 4 or 5, they can be awarded credit for the failed courses “on aggregate”;
• This means that where a student has passed their other 60 or more credits, and has an average for all courses (including the failed courses) of more than 40%, they can be given the credit for the failed courses;
• Marks for failed courses are included in the calculation of classification, unless they have been discounted due to upheld Special Circumstances; students should therefore apply through the Special Circumstances process where failure in a course was related to difficult personal circumstances;
• On some professional or accredited programmes, credit cannot be awarded in this way for some courses due to external requirements;
• Where a student fails more than 60 credits in a year and does not have Special Circumstances, they are unlikely to be able to continue on the Honours programme, but may be able to complete an Ordinary or General degree.

We have expanded the borderline range for classification from 2% to 3%, in order to ensure we give additional consideration to students whose performance is close to a higher class.

• Boards of Examiners who decide upon classification will consider whether any student who falls within 3% of the higher class (e.g. 57-59% for a 2:1, or 67-69% for a 1^st) qualifies for an upgrade to the higher class on a case-by-case basis;
• Boards of Examiners will follow their publicised approach to considering borderline cases, which explain what evidence of performance at the higher class students are required to demonstrate in order to qualify for an upgrade.

Information about Boards of Examiners

Most students who are due to graduate this year completed courses in 2019/20 which counted towards their Honours classification. Under the “no detriment” rules in place for courses in Semester 2, 2019/20, which were affected by the onset of the pandemic, some course results may be discounted for classification purposes at the end of the programme.

• Where Boards of Examiners in Schools were able to discount affected components of assessment when calculating results for courses, these course results will count towards classification as normal;
• Where this was not possible because the affected assessment was needed to demonstrate the learning outcomes for the course, the Board of Examiners responsible for deciding degree classification will discount the course result, if it is lower than the student’s average for other courses counting towards classification;
• Your School can tell you which courses you took in 2019/20 may be discounted by the Board of Examiners when your classification is calculated;
• Students who were studying on an optional year abroad in 2019/20 will receive a degree classification based solely on their results for courses completed in their final year, as normal.

Information about Boards of Examiners

We have amended requirements for progression on postgraduate taught programmes, allowing students to progress based on a smaller-than-usual volume of credits with marks of 50% or more.

• In order to progress from the taught component to the dissertation/research project, students need to achieve marks of 50% or more in at least 60 credits’ of courses, and achieve an average of 50% across the 120 credits’ of taught courses;
• Some programmes may have requirements relating to specific courses which need to be passed at 50%: these will be explained in your programme handbook;
• Marks for all courses (including any failed courses) are included when calculating eligibility for Merit or Distinction, unless they have been discounted due to upheld Special Circumstances; students should therefore apply through the Special Circumstances where their performance in a course was negatively affected by difficult personal circumstances.

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.

Boards of Examiners who decide upon results for courses have a responsibility to ensure that students have a fair opportunity to demonstrate performance against the learning outcomes. Marks for assessment go through a moderation process to ensure that they are a fair reflection of students’ abilities. This entire process is overseen by “External Examiners”, who are expert staff from other universities. As part of the moderation process, Boards of Examiners can:

• Compare performance on courses with previous years to decide whether performance this year appears to have been unreasonably depressed;
• Take account of exceptional circumstances affecting the delivery of courses.

Information about Boards of Examiners

• Students can apply to interrupt or extend their studies where their progress has been negatively affected by the pandemic, especially where this is due to caring or employment commitments;
• Research students taking taught courses can make use of the Special Circumstances provisions, described above;
• PhD and MPhil students can make the Board of Examiners aware of the impact the pandemic has had on their research when they submit their thesis.

If you have questions about how the measures may relate to your programme of study, please contact your Personal Tutor, or the Student Support Team in your School. The Advice Place, which is run by the Students’ Association, can also offer independent advice about issues related to your studies.

The Advice Place