Academic Policy & Governance

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Online Examinations and Late Submission

During the pandemic, principles were developed around submission of online exams and, in particular, the consequences of failure to submit within the scheduled exam time.  The information was made available as a freestanding policy document. The key principles have now been incorporated into the Code of Assessment and further information and examples (again drawn from the existing document) will be included in the Guide to the Code of Assessment for the 2023-24 session.

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Incomplete Assessment and Good Cause

Students experiencing adverse personal circumstances may claim good cause in relation to:

• missed assessments; and
• completed assessments where they believe their performance has been significantly impaired.

From 2023-24 onwards it is no longer possible to claim good cause in relation to significantly impaired performance in the independent work (dissertation/project) required for a classified honours degree or a postgraduate taught masters degree.

This reflects the fact that good cause is defined as relating to acute circumstances whereas the independent work takes place over a period of months. Over such a period, acute circumstances can be addressed through short extensions or, in exceptional cases, a longer deferred deadline (e.g. completion of an honours dissertation in the summer). Further information will be included in the Guide to the Code of Assessment 2023-24. Schools are encouraged to highlight this point to students undertaking independent work, noting that where they encounter difficulties, students should alert staff in good time and, crucially, before the work is submitted.

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There has been a significant recent increase in the number of academic appeals to both College and Senate Appeals Committees, resulting in difficulties meeting published deadlines and delays for students awaiting their final outcomes. In order to improve the efficiency of the appeals handling process, a number of changes have been made, including:

• removal of the reinstatement stage of the appeals process from both the College and Senate Appeals Codes;
• introduction of an appeals form, which students will be required to submit instead of a letter of appeal.

There have a number of revisions to the Code of Student Conduct to improve clarity of procedures and navigation of the Code with clearer segregation of academic and non-academic procedures. Flexibility has been added to the appeals process including introduction of a streamlined process to avoid full appeal hearings where these are not necessary.