PGPM - Assessment and Learning Experience Manual

IMT Ghaziabad and upGrad PG Program in Management

Contents IMTG Assessment Policy 2

Assessment Structure 2

Grading Policy 3

Code of Conduct 6

Assessment and Grading Timelines 6

Class Participation - Discussion Forum Process 8

Faculty and Industry Live Lectures 8

Deferral Policy 9

Refund/Cancellation Policy 9

Student Support Services Guidelines 9

Escalation Matrix for Grievance Redressal 10

upGrad Telegram Policy 11

IMTG Assessment Policy

As a general IMTG assessment policy, assessments are divided into formative and summative without too much emphasis on a single assessment. Hence, a variety of assessment formats are planned to mirror the workplace today and the global university standards.

● In-module Quizzes and individual assignments will assess participants on conceptual clarity.

The academic committee regularly deliberates on the academic structure and the grading elements of the program and it holds the right to change any components of it. Any changes to the grading elements or the academic structure of the program will be communicated to the learners in advance.

It is recommended that participants focus on learning as opposed to solely focusing on assessment scores. Given that it is a Post-Graduate program, participants are expected to do research on their own during the learning process and deal with ambiguous assessment scenarios.

Assessment Structure

Assessment Components and Respective Weights

The Post-Graduate program comprises 3 different assessment components across 14 courses. Their distribution and weightage:

Type of assessment Subset Weightage

Quizzes Graded MCQs (At the end of the session/module) 30%

Assignment Individual assignments 40%

Exams Two proctored exams, mid term and end term 30%

Let us take an example to understand this. Let’s say that in Course 1, your marks are as given below.

Each component has been mentioned with its respective weightage in brackets.

1. Assignment (40%) - 700/1000

2. Quizzes (30%) - 425/600

3. Mid-Term Exam (30%) - 50/100

Your final percentage score for that Course will be calculated as –

{[0.4*(700/1000)] + [0.3*(425/600)] + [0.30*(50/100)]} *100

= 64.25 %

Grading Policy Grade Point Average (GPA) Computation for a Course

The marks provided for each assessment, scaled by the weight given to that assessment, add up to the overall score for the course. Grade point average (GPA) is awarded on a 10-point scale. Also, you have to achieve a minimum of 40% to pass each course. You must put in the effort required to make sure that you meet this criterion. Each student will be assigned a letter grade based on the evaluation of each course. The following is the description of each grade:

Letter Grade Grade Point Description

A+ 10 Exceptional

A 9 Excellent

A- 8 Proficient

B+ 7 Very Good

B 6 Good

B- 5 Fair

C+ 4 Satisfactory

C 3 Low Pass

C- 2 Poor

D+ 1 Very Poor

F 0 Fail

I - Incomplete

To clarify the GPA calculation, following methodology is used to convert the percentage to GPA:

Lower limit (% marks)

Upper limit (% marks)

GPA

Grade

94 100 10 A+

87 93.9 9 A

80 86.9 8 A-

74 79.9 7 B+

67 73.9 6 B

60 66.9 5 B-

54 59.9 4 C+

47 53.9 3 C

40.00 46.9 2 C-

Less than 40 0 F

Hence, the student scoring 64.25% in the earlier example would get a GPA of 5 (Grade B-) with this calculation. Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) Computation for the Program

The program has a total of 28 credits. The following is the structure of the program-

Course Credits

Marketing Management 2

Accounting and Finance 2

Decision Sciences 2

Operations & Supply Chain Management 2

Business Communication 2

Business Economics 2

OB, HR Management, Ethics and Legal 2

Sales and Distribution Management 2

Business Strategy 2

Elective* 2

Leadership, Engagement & People

Performance 2

Digital Business Innovation 2

Leading Change for Sustainable Futures 2

Enterprise and Risk Management 2

The elective subject may differ based on individual choices, and may include subjects on Marketing,

Finance, Operations & Supply Chain Management, Strategy and Leadership, Business Analytics and HR.

The GPA scores for each course weighted by its respective proportion of credits, add up to the CGPA for

the entire program. The GPA is truncated (and not rounded off) at two decimalplaces.

For instance, if the grade points awarded to a participant are G1, G2 etc. in courses with corresponding credits U1, U2, etc., the CGPA = (U1*G1 + U2*G2 + ..... ) / (U1 + U2 +…), wherein U1, U2 refer to all courses taken up to the time of computation of CGPA.

A learner must pass each course by getting at least a C- grade (2-grade point on a 10-point scale) or

40% in every course. However, to get the PG Program Certificate, the Cumulative Grade Point Average

or the CGPA should be greater than and equal 4.

If you fail to score at least 40% in more than 3 Courses, then you will not be eligible for the PG

Certificate. You will, however, have access to content just like your peers and will be given feedback on

your submissions. You will be eligible for a letter of completion from upGrad only if you have

successfully completed all the Modules, Assignments and Projects part of the program.

Grade Improvement Opportunity (GIO)

We understand that in a rare scenario, due to unforeseen circumstances one may not be able to meet the above criteria for passing the Program. We do not want such instances to make a learner ineligible for receiving a PG certificate. In such cases, a Grade Improvement Opportunity (GIO) is given to the learner to help them get through the program and be eligible for getting the PG certificate.

1. A maximum of three GIOs can be availed by a learner in the entire program (14 courses). 2. If a student scores less than 40% in GIO or does not appear, then they fail in the Course and

become ineligible for PG certificate. 3. GIOs will be decided by the academic committee and will be in the form of an assignment or any

other mode of assessment as deemed fit by the Academic committee. 4. If a learner fails more than three courses, he/she will not be eligible for the PG Certificate as a GIO

can be given only for a maximum of three courses. 5. If a student clears the GIO, he will be given the corresponding Grade Point/Grade for the course,

capped at GPA 4 (C+ grade).

Code of Conduct

As stated in the Code of Conduct, plagiarism in any form for any graded individual or group assessment is not acceptable.

Participants are not allowed to request for the final solution or share solution for any graded question on any platform. Any violation on this count will result in a zero score for that question or assignment. If a participant violates on this count a second time, the IMTG Academic Committee will decide upon the necessary disciplinary action.

Further, any form of plagiarism and impersonation, including participants presenting others work as their own, sharing solutions with each other, etc. will not be accepted. The submissions by the learners will be subjected to plagiarism checks to ensure compliance. Learners may also be subjected to random viva by the concerned faculty to ensure that the submissions have in fact been independently created by the learner. The IMTG Academic Committee has the final authority to decide upon the required disciplinary action in case of plagiarism and impersonation.

Students are expected to restrict the emails only to the escalation IDs shared in this student manual or communicated separately while raising any query, concerns or grievance. Please refrain from sending any mass mailers while sending emails to upGrad team.

The University and upGrad reserve the right to take strict action against any student indulging in mass mailers.

Similarly, participant misbehavior on any online or offline forums will not be accepted, and participants will face appropriate disciplinary action. upGrad does not tolerate any form of bullying and/ or harassment including but not limited to sexual harassment. If we are notified of any act of harassment committed by a learner towards co-learners or upGrad's representative, such learner shall have to face strict consequences, which shall be taken at the sole discretion of upGrad.

Plagiarism Definitions

Plagiarism is an act of Academic Misconduct that is deemed to cover deliberate attempts to gain an unfair advantage in assessments. This includes attempts to cheat, plagiarise, unauthorised collusion or any other deliberate attempt to gain an unfair advantage in summatively assessed work. Summative assessments include all forms of written work (including in-class tests), e- assessments, presentations, demonstrations, viva voices, recognition of prior learning portfolios and all forms of examination.

Plagiarism is defined as the representation of the work, artifacts or designs, written or otherwise, of any other person, from any source whatsoever, as a student's own. Examples of plagiarism may be as follows:

1. The verbatim copying of another's work without clear identification and acknowledgement, including the downloading of materials from the Internet without proper referencing of materials;

2. The paraphrasing of another's work by simply changing a few words or altering the order of presentation, without clear identification and acknowledgement;

3. The unidentified and unacknowledged quotation of phrases from another's work; and 4. The deliberate and detailed presentation of another's concept as one's own.

Cheating includes: 1. Any form of communication with, or copying from, any other source during an examination, and

communicating with any person other than an authorised member of staff during an examination; 2. Introducing any written, printed or other material into an examination (including electronically

stored information) other than that specified in the rubric of the examination paper 3. Gaining access to unauthorised material in any way during or before an assessment; 4. The use of mobile phones or any other communication device during an assessment or

examination; 5. The submission of false claims of previously gained qualifications, research or experience in order

to gain credit for prior learning; 6. The falsification data, the presentation of another’s data as one’s own and any other forms of

misrepresentation in order to gain advantage; 7. The submission of work for assessment that has already been submitted as all or part of the

assessment for another course; and 8. The submission of material purchased or commissioned from a third party, such as an essay-

writing, Project completion service, as one’s own.

Collusion includes: 1. The conscious collaboration, without official approval, between two or more students in the

preparation and production of work that is ultimately submitted by each in an identical or substantially similar form and/or is represented by each to be the product of his or her individual efforts;and

2. Instances where there is unauthorised cooperation between a student and another person in the preparation and production of work that is presented, as the student's own.

Contract cheating Contract cheating is when you use or purchase academic work and present it as your own. Contract cheating is becoming increasingly common, but the University has zero tolerance for this practice. Engaging in contract cheating:

1. harms your reputation 2. harms your academic performance 3. harms your relationships with your fellow students 4. can result in being excluded from the University.

Incase of any findings, the learner’s assessment/Project/Submission is subject to a detailed scrutiny and if found guilty the The penalty may be extended to 100% of the marks. Please note the Admission Committee of the University and upGrad has the final authority to decide upon the disciplinary action to be taken in case of plagiarism and impersonation.

Assessment and Grading Timelines

Assessment Submission Timelines

The program is structured so that the entire cohort can experience a course together. All the modules will be made available to the learners at the beginning of each course. The participants will be given ample time to go through the modules and assignments.

A calendar with all module and assignment deadlines for the upcoming course would be shared with the participant via email and would be visible on the platform calendar before the beginning of that course. These deadlines for the respective assessments are non-negotiable except in dire circumstances. If assignments are submitted after these stated deadlines, but within one week after the deadline, then

they will be graded on 70% of the total marks of the assessment (attracting a penalty of 30%). This second deadline is also termed as the Hard deadline. Beyond the Hard deadline, the obtained submissions will be graded and given feedback but will attract a penalty of 100%. Feedback is given so as not to hamper learning but the marks would be considered as zero for all official purposes. This is valid for Incontent Quizzes (modules) as well.

Please note that all the deadlines are in IST (UTC +5.5), hence, if you are in a different time zone then your deadline may vary according to local time. For e.g. - If you are in London and following BST (British Summer Time) which is UTC +1 then the deadline for you in local time would be 7:29:00 PM BST if the deadline in India is 11:59:00 PM IST.

Deadline extension policy

As mentioned earlier, these deadlines are non-negotiable except under dire circumstances such as a major health issue, a work related issue etc. In such cases, you may be given an extension of up to 1 week at the sole discretion of upGrad. This means that you can submit your assignment up to one week after the deadline without the 30% penalty. However, no extension will be given beyond the hard deadline (one week after the actual deadline). Here are the guidelines for the same:

1. A learner can avail a maximum of two (2) extensions during the entire program period i.e. 11 months.

2. Extensions are allowed only on individual assignments and modules. No extensions will be

given on the Simulation exercises.

3. No extensions will be given beyond the hard deadline (one week after the deadline)

4. To avail an extension, you must contact the Student Support Team, with a formal request letter addressed to “Academic committee, IMTG”, clearly stating the reason for requiring an extension, along with proof for the same.

5. The final decision to grant extension lies with the academic committee. You will be notified

by the student support team if your request has been accepted.

Grading and Feedback Timelines

Timelines for the release of solutions, grades and feedback for various components are as given below:

Assessment component Solution Grades

Quizzes Immediately after attempting Within 2 weeks of Hard deadline

Assignment NA Within 2 weeks of Hard deadline

*Hard deadline- refers to the deadline one week after the actual deadline during which 30% penalty is levied on submissions.

Once these scores are available, each participant can access them on their Individual Performance Profile on the platform.

Participants will receive immediate feedback for Quizzes. Ideal solutions for assignments will be available for download within one week of the final submission deadline of an assessment. Qualitative feedback will be provided along with the scores only for assignments.

The grade sheets will be released after each exam i.e. first grade sheet after mid term exam, second after end term exam.

Guidelines for re-evaluation

1. A re-evaluation request (if any) should be submitted within 3 days of the declaration of the results. For example: if results were declared on 13/01/2021, then the requests for re-evaluation made till 16/01/2021 (end of the day) will be considered. However no answers to the questions shall be provided by upGrad and the university partner.

2. A learner shall be able to request for re-evaluation on the learning platformitself.

3. A learner may request for a re-evaluation of his / her assignment by claiming discrepancy of

marks (when compared with the ideal solution). In such cases, the learner should clearly specify out the particular portion (Q. No.) of the assignment that is required to be re-evaluated plus the remarks regarding the claimed discrepancy. Requests that do not have all of this information or are very generic / vague in nature will be flagged as invalid and shall not be considered. Note: If the claim for a discrepancy of marks holds invalid, then the concerned learner shall be penalised with a penalty of 15% points (of the total points)

4. Re-evaluation requests claiming discrepancy of marks (when compared with another learner’s

graded assignment) are highly discouraged and will NOT be considered. Note: If any such requests are made, then the concerned learner will be awarded a penalty of 15% points (of the total points)

5. Re-evaluation requests for assignments that have been uploaded after the hard deadline will

not be considered and are highly discouraged.

6. All re-evaluation requests will receive a response anytime up to 3 weeks after the

re-evaluation deadline.

Class Participation - Discussion Forum Process

The discussion forum is designed for participants to help create a strong learning community. Participants are encouraged to respond to peer questions as it will also help reinforce their learning.

Participants are requested to post only academic questions on the discussion forum. Faculty and teaching associates (TAs) will act only in response to questions directly related to the program content and assessments. They will either verify participant answers or respond to posted questions within 24 hours of the questions being posted.

Faculty and TAs will not take any action on general posts that are meant to facilitate discussion among peers. Inappropriate posts that are of no learning value will be deleted and penalized.

Points are awarded only based on the quality of posts, which is measured by peer upvotes and faculty / TA verifications, not on the quantity of posts. No points are awarded for simply posting questions or answers. Note that faculty and TAs can verify multiple answers to the same question.

Faculty and Industry Live Lectures

As part of the program, all participants can expect access to one live session per course which will be delivered by a mix of industry professionals and academicians. However, the mix can vary by course. The details about these live sessions will be updated on the participant calendar on the platform or informed via email. These live sessions are an integral part of the overall learning experience and it is highly encouraged for participants to attend and actively participate in all sessions.

As an incentive to perform well in the program, additional delight elements will be provided to top-performers of select assessment components or to participants who complete modules and submit assignments by recommended deadlines. The top performers in the discussion forum can also expect similar incentives.

Deferral Policy

● If a student is facing severe issues in dedicating time to the course, we provide the opportunity for the student to defer to another batch.

● A student can request for deferral only once and to either of the scheduled cohorts to start in the next 1 year from the batch start date of initial batch the student enrolled for.

● In case the learner is a Deakin or LBS learner, the student will be required to pay a deferral fees of INR 30,000 if any along with the differential program fees between the two cohorts.

● If the student is an IMT only learner, then the student will be required to pay a deferral fees of 10% of the total course amount fee + Taxes if any along with the differential program fees between the two cohorts.

● The deferral request will be approved once the deferral fee is paid. ● Till this is completed, the student will be assumed to be continuing in the same cohort. ● The student has 7 days (including holidays and weekends) from the date of deferral request to

make the payment of the deferral fee post which the deferral request will expire, and the student will continue as part of the current cohort.

● If the student completes the deferral payment, the student’s login will be disabled, the student will leave the deferred cohort and the student will start learning on the new cohort post the last course that was graded in the deferred cohort. All grades and progress till that course will be carried forward as it is to the new cohort. For clarification, the grades of the graded courses will be carried forward.

● The deferral can only be requested during the batch for which the student has enrolled is ongoing. Once the batch has completed, deferral requests shall not be entertained. For clarification, the batch completion here shall mean the “last grace deadline” as communicated by upGrad.

Refund/Cancellation Policy

As per the company policy, once the program commences, there is no option for Refund/Cancellation of the Program.

Student Support Services Guidelines

Student services are considered an integral part of education and they are currently evolving to meet

and exceed students’ expectations. To ensure all your queries/concerns/issues are addressed within an

acceptable timeframe and to utmost satisfaction, kindly follow the student support services guidelines

given below.

1) Your upGrad buddy will help personalize your learning experience by periodically engaging with you to

ensure you are on track with upcoming deadlines, offer guidance, resolve non-academic queries, and

lend a helping hand wherever required. However, in case you need to approach us, please contact our

Student Support Team available 7 days a week from 09 AM to 09 PM IST. You can drop an email on

studentsupport@upgrad.com and expect to receive a response within 24 hours. For any urgent queries,

please click on the Call Back button on the learning platform and our team will reach out to you within

2 working hours.

2) Though your upGrad buddy along with a gamut of multiple teams will be there to hand-hold you to

excel in the program, your commitment to the program is of utmost importance and we suggest you

imbibe the program schedule in your day to day life. For any help/mentoring required in planning your

time better, please do not hesitate to connect with the student support team.

3) Your will receive emails from studentsupport@upgrad.com, for all updates regarding the programme

(e.g., Live Session notification, Exam Dates notification and Change in Deadlines)

You can also reach out to the Student Support team as mentioned above to get updates/resolve issues

(non-academic queries; for example, live sessions, program-structure-related queries)

4) In case your upGrad buddy is unable to provide you with a resolution to the issue within a TAT of 24hrs

and you even do not receive an ETA on the same, please make use of the escalation matrix mentioned

below to expedite the response.

Escalation Matrix for Grievance Redressal

upGrad believes in adopting a transparent approach with all its learners, and in order to match our

learners’ expectations in terms of grievance redressal, we have created an Escalation Matrix. Based on

the kind of queries we receive from our learners, we have defined the levels of the Escalation Matrix. We

request you to refer to the same in case you ever find the need to escalate anissue.

Following are some of the key email IDs and the corresponding purposes for various purposes in the

programme (at different points in time). Please ensure you have removed these email IDs from your

spam list - otherwise you may not receive important updates about the program.

Type of Query Point of Contact

Non-academic queries (For example, live sessions, program structure related queries)

Student Support team Write to:

studentsupport@upgrad.com

Content-related issues/queries (If you find any issues with or have queries pertaining to the content on a session page)

Click on the “Report an Error” button on the bottom left corner of the session page.

Referral / Refund / fee receipts-related queries Student Support team Write to: studentsupport@upgrad.com

Not satisfied with the resolution provided by your upGrad Buddy or the Student Support Team?

Write to:

gmbaescalations@upgrad.com

upGrad Telegram Policy In order to provide easier access to course related updates in addition to emails and calls, a telegram channel will be created by your upGrad Buddy to keep you notified on the upcoming deadlines and course related updates. We will be creating an Official Telegram Channel where only the upGrad Buddy will be allowed to post notifications.

To manage this effort effectively and efficiently, all members must be aware of the following guidelines:

1. The channel will be used only by the upGrad Buddy for sharing important notifications related to the program, course content, live sessions, exams, events, etc.

2. Should you have any concerns with upGrad, University partner or your peers, you will be required to direct such communication to upGrad ONLY via email or reach out to your upGrad buddy over call.

3. upGrad will NOT be collecting any personal information via this channel and shall not be

responsible for any misuse of personal information by other members of the channel. However, we will provide you with all reasonable assistance to take action against any other student who has misused such information.

4. Telegram should not be considered as a medium for official query resolution. For any

such queries, please reach out to the student support team via email or by using the chat function available on the learning platform. The upGrad Buddy is not liable to answer any/all queries over telegram.

5. In addition to this channel, the SGC groups will also be created on telegram to share

session invites and agenda.

6. You are requested to keep the notifications turned on, on your Telegram app to receive uninterrupted updates during the program.

Hope you make the most of this platform and keep yourself updated about the course and the platform.