We recognise that you may have many questions as a result of this situation. Please be assured we are doing all we can to ensure as many students as possible are given the opportunity to secure the best possible outcomes for themselves. Our approach has been designed to ensure ‘no detriment’ and also ‘reduced pressure’ for students as set out in the main statement issued on 03/04/2020.
Who is this relevant for?
This is only relevant for final year Undergraduate students, or students on a Postgraduate Taught programme who are due to complete their degrees this year (2020). It does not apply to any other students. Please see the separate information for non-final year Undergraduates and Postgraduate Research students.
Why has the University taken these decisions?
We have been mindful of the needs to both reduce pressures on students, and also take into account the many personal challenges that will be facing staff who will be marking assessments and administering the processes behind assessment. We want to ensure that as many students as possible get the best chance to secure the best outcome.
Is the University still open?
The University campus is now in a restricted operations mode, meaning that most campus buildings are closed and nearly all staff are working from home to comply with UK Government requirements and to promote and protect the safety of our community.
Our staff are still working hard to support students, but this does mean that responses to any individual queries may be delayed. Please be patient. We will be in contact with you to confirm your individual position as soon as possible.
What is a no-detriment approach?
We want to ensure that as many students as possible can complete their degree on time, with a classification that is a fair reflection of their achievements. This has affected both the amount of work we will be asking students to do and **the type **of work but not the academic quality.
Your degree classification and overall mean mark will be calculated using the best marks to make up the credits up to the number required.
What does the University mean by best marks?
This means that if you have successfully completed more than the credits we are requiring this academic year (please see table below), your best (highest numerically scoring) marks will be the ones used to calculate your degree classification and overall weighted-mean mark.
I am doing an Undergraduate or Integrated Masters degree– how am I affected?
You will need to have (in addition to marks from previous years) marks for 80 credits from the final year of your programme, including the dissertation/project and enough evidence that you have met the overall Programme Learning Outcomes. Your programme team will be in contact with you directly to confirm if you have achieved both already.
In the meantime you should continue working to complete outstanding coursework assessments , and/or dissertation/project for individual modules and refer to the most recent local information from your programmes about deadlines and any extensions or alternative arrangements.
I am doing a Postgraduate Taught programme – how am I affected?
You will need marks for 80 credits from the taught component of your programme. This will mean you can progress to the project/dissertation and focus on that over the summer period (to secure an additional 60 credits). For PGDip or PGCerts, the number of credits required has also been lowered – please see the table below.
I’m not sure how many credits I have done or should be doing.
Your programme administration team will be in contact with you as soon as possible to let you know if you have gained enough credits this year to not need additional assessment. **You do not need to check this yourself – we will let you know. **