External Examiner InductionAcademic Regulations for

Taught Programmes 2015/16

Annette Cooke/Alison JonesQuality and Enhancement Office4 November 2015

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Academic Regulations

• The regulations apply to all programmes (some programme specific requirements)

• Supplementary policies and procedures support the regulations, providing more detailed information (e.g. Assessment and Feedback, Personal Mitigating Circumstances, Boards of Examiners, External Examining)

• Key documents are provided for External Examiners on the External Examiner webpage

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Assessment• Modules normally have one or two components of

assessment • A student is normally allowed:

a) one initial attempt to take a module (with attendance) andb) one opportunity to be reassessed in components of failed

module(s) andc) one final opportunity to retake a module (with attendance)

• Assessments are verified and then set at specified times (e.g. exams in examinations period)

• Modules are normally capped at pass mark if reassessed or retaken

• UG modules at one level must normally be passed before progression to next level

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Assessed Work• All written examinations at Levels 5, 6 and 7 levels

are marked anonymously • All the above are subject to moderation however if

any Level 4 assessments contribute to classification (e.g. FD), moderation is also required

• As part of the moderation process, external examiners cannot negotiate individual marks

• There is currently no requirement for coursework to be marked anonymously

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All elements of assessment are mark out of 100 and recorded as a % mark, unless graded Pass/Fail

Level 7 (pass = 50%) Levels 3-6 (pass = 40%)outstanding 90% – 100% outstandingexcellent 80% – 89% excellentvery good 70% – 79% very goodGood 60% – 69% goodsatisfactory 50% – 59% fairunsatisfactory40% – 49% adequateInadequate 30% – 39% unsatisfactoryPoor 20% – 29% poorvery poor 10% – 19% very poorextremely poor 0% – 9% extremely poor

Assessment Marking Scales

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Late Submission Penalties• Late submission penalties are:

Up to 1 working day late - penalty of 5 marks (not %)Up to 2 working days late - penalty of 10 marksUp to 3 working days late - penalty of 15 marksUp to 4 working days late - penalty of 20 marks

• More than 4 working days late, assessment becomes a non-submission (and cannot be submitted/marked)

• In the case of late submission, if the original mark awarded was a pass, the penalised mark cannot go below pass mark

• If original mark awarded was a fail, no further penalty is applied for late submission

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Personal Mitigating Circumstances

There are three categories of PMC request that can be considered:1. Absence2. Non submission3. Late submission

PMCs must be submitted within 10 working days of the assessment and are usually considered within 3 working days of submission. The Board of Examiners must decide on the action to implement in the case of an accepted PMC:

1. Absence – offer replacement attempt2. Non submission - offer replacement attempt3. Late submission – remove late submission penalties

By sitting/submitting an assessment, students are deemed to be fit to sit

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Automatic Compensation

• Automatic compensation for a ‘narrow failure’ can be awarded in some circumstances for failure in up to 20 credits (Levels 3 to 6) or 30 credits (L7)

• Automatic compensation gives credit for the module in question, it does not change the module mark

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Degree ClassificationStandard Honours degree programme mark is derived from:

25% of weighted mean mark for best 100 credits at level 5 + 75% of weighted mean mark for best 100 credits at level 6

Class of degree thresholds:

68.50% First59.00% Upper second49.50% Lower second40.00% Third

No discretion for students close to the next classification boundary.Non-standard degree programme mark (including top-up degrees) derived from all available credits at levels 5 and 6, i.e. no credits excluded from the calculation.

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Awards with Merit and DistinctionFoundation Degrees

•Programme mark derived from best 100 credits at each of Levels 4 and 5, weighted 25:75•Mark of at least 68.50% = FD with Distinction•Mark of at least 59.00% = FD with Merit

Postgraduate Diploma•Programme mark derived from best 120 credits at Level 7•Programme mark of at least 70.00% = PgDip with Distinction•Programme mark of at least 60.00% = PgDip with Merit

Masters Degree•Programme mark derived from 180 credits at Level 7•Programme mark AND Project Stage mark of at least 70.00% = Masters with Distinction•Programme mark AND Project Stage mark of at least 60.00% = Masters with Merit

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Academic MisconductCases are considered by a School Academic Misconduct Panel or, in the most serious cases, the Disciplinary Panel.

All suspected cases will be investigated and, if proven, one of the following penalties will be applied:•A mark of 0 (or grade of fail) is awarded for the component of assessment•A mark of 0 (or grade of fail) is awarded for the module•A mark of 0 (or grade of fail) is awarded for the module and marks for all other modules at that level are kept at minimum pass mark/grade

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Academic AppealsAn appeal can only be considered valid on one or more of thefollowing grounds:

•personal mitigating circumstances were not notified to the Board of Examiners and there was good reason for this

•there has been a procedural irregularity in the assessment process

•that the Board of Examiners has acted in a way which is manifestly unreasonable

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