Following the
message sent to all students on Wednesday (3 February), in today’s message I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight what the support for exams and assessments means to you, as a postgraduate taught student.
I am very aware of the stresses we're all coping with at the moment and I want to emphasise that the College’s plans will support your achievements and also retain the integrity and value of the masters (which will be important to you in the future). Please remember, if you’re struggling, we’re here to support you now. Please talk to your departments and our wellbeing team if you’re feeling overwhelmed, we’re here to support you.
For this year’s exams and assessments, we have introduced the
Fairness and Assurance Policy, a safety net for your grades as you complete your assessments. The section that explicitly sets out the no detriment approaches for PGT students can be found on pages 26 and 27.
The Fairness and Assurance Policy for PGT students
- Major changes to assessments were put in place for academic year for academic year 2020-21 alongside changes in teaching and learning. These were designed in anticipation of interruptions and changes and included, among others, revised exam papers for online assessments, extended submission deadlines for coursework, and the formats of some group assessments were revised. Adjustments to placements were also made where this was appropriate.
- Moderation and Scaling will apply if the Department Assessment Board identifies that students’ results for a module indicate an underperformance in comparison with the historic pattern of performance of previous cohorts. This will allow us to identify and adjust results to fairly reflect students’ performance.
- Extensions and Extenuating Circumstances policies were revised to be simpler and more generous for 2020-21. The general impact of the pandemic is being taken into account through our module review and scaling approach, and resit policy. However you should consider submitting Extenuating Circumstances where you believe your individual performance has been affected due to specific unforeseen circumstances outside your control. These circumstances can be Covid or non-Covid related.
- Resits - Postgraduate taught students will be automatically entitled to a further attempt where they fail or do not complete an assessment. Department Assessment Boards will also be able to offer uncapped resits where an individual student’s underperformance is identified. After the final results are published you are also permitted to apply for discretionary resits, if the result could lead to an improvement to your award. There will be no further tuition fees payable if students are undertaking resits.
Joint College/Students’ Union briefing and Q&AIf you have questions on the Fairness and Assurance Policy, the College will be jointly hosting an MS Teams drop-in with the Students’ Union on Tuesday 9 February at 5.30-6.30pm. No need to register, please
click here to join us for a short briefing, followed by a Q&A for PGT students.
I understand that this year has not been what we hoped and that you have had to learn in a very different environment than we all anticipated. Your resilience and ability to adapt has been impressive and I do hope that, if you are finding the current circumstances overwhelming, you are reaching out to academic staff and
school offices and our
Wellbeing team as we are here for you. We will do our best to support you.
Professor Paul Layzell
Principal