TO: All UG Students & All PGT Students Subject: SERIOUS ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES AND EXAMINATION DEFERRAL PROCESS INFORMATION
Dear Students, The University promised you a further update about its approach to Serious Adverse Circumstances. The following email will provide you with information on: · Action already taken by your Department(s) in relation to strike action and Covid-19. · The limited circumstances where you may need to take some action; · Where you can find further information; · What steps, if any, you should take next.
We appreciate and understand what a difficult time the last few months have been for you. With the strike action in Term 1 and Term 2, followed by the need to move teaching and assessment online because of Covid-19, this has been far from a normal academic year. Despite the challenges, the University has prioritised making sure that the exam period can go ahead at the normal time and you are able to progress academically.
We are expecting the vast majority of students to complete their assessments during the normal May/June examination period.
The purpose of this email is, however, to let you know about the various measures the University is putting in place to help protect your degree. We hope that this will help you determine if any further action is required on your part in relation to your forthcoming examinations or summative submissions. Help and support in the decision-making process is available from colleagues in your College and Department(s) and webpages have been created to help you to access further information.
We have previously announced the range of measures we are adopting to ensure that you are not disadvantaged during this pandemic. Within this context you need to know the following about the University’s approach to Serious Adverse Circumstances this year:
- Impact of Strike Action on Teaching and Assessment Your Department(s) have identified all modules and assessments affected by strike action that has taken place this year. The Boards of Examiners will automatically consider applying the equivalent of a ‘Serious Adverse Circumstance’ grade against any assessments submitted where teaching was affected by strike action. This means in almost all cases students should not submit a Serious Adverse Circumstances form in relation to strike action. Your Departments have clear sight of the impact of the strike action and will ensure that this is taken into account when considering progression and degree classifications. There may be a very small number of exceptions to this. Any student who thinks they have an individual serious adverse circumstance relating to the strike action should speak to their Department first.
- Impact of Covid-19 on Teaching and Assessment Your Department(s) are also taking action in relation to the impact of Covid-19 on teaching and assessments. A range of measures are being used to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on your assessments. They include (but are not limited to) changes to the assessments you will be taking and how they are marked. As with the impact of strike action the application of a group ‘Serious Adverse Circumstance’ grade will be considered if any impact remains after all other mitigation options have been used. This approach means that the majority of students will not need to submit a Serious Adverse Circumstances Form in relation to Covid-19 but please continue reading for information about individual serious and/or adverse circumstances where a Serious Adverse Circumstances Form may be appropriate.
- Individual Serious Adverse Circumstances If you have personal, individual serious and/or adverse circumstances (relating to Covid-19 or something else) and they are impacting on any coursework that is due to be submitted this term (including dissertations or projects), please contact your Department in the normal way to discuss appropriate mitigation (which may include extensions).
If you have personal, individual serious and/or adverse circumstances (relating to Covid-19 or something else) that impacts your performance in any of the online examinations that you take, you WILL need to submit a Serious Adverse Circumstances Form. Full details of this process and what to do can be found on the Serious Adverse Circumstances webpage( https://www.dur.ac.uk/student.registry/assessment/covid19/sacs/ ). Please be aware this process is different from previous years and involves submitting an online form. This new online form will make it easier for you to provide the information your Department needs in order to judge what, if any, further action is required.
If you have personal, individual serious and/or adverse circumstances that have impacted any coursework already submitted, please read the guidance on the Serious Adverse Circumstances webpage( https://www.dur.ac.uk/student.registry/assessment/covid19/sacs/ ) to determine what to do and/or speak to your College.
The online Serious Adverse Circumstances Form will be released to students w/c 4 May 2020. We will contact students again once the form is available. Please do not complete a SAC form until this online form is released. If you have already submitted an SAC Form (for this academic year) using the old form you will need to resubmit the information using the online form when it becomes available (but you will be able to copy and paste the information into the online form).
We hope that the information above, the information contained in the FAQs on our website, and the information received from your Departments and Colleges has reassured you that there are clear processes in place to support our students to complete their studies this year.
We appreciate that there may be a small number of students who are unable to take their online exams during the May/June examination period. As already communicated we will be making available an online form for students to complete if this is the case and it will be available shortly via DUO. Further information about how this process will work and when it should be applied can be found on the Serious Adverse Circumstances webpage( https://www.dur.ac.uk/student.registry/assessment/covid19/sacs/ ).
Next Steps If you think you have or have experienced serious and/or adverse circumstances (whether related to Covid-19 or not) then please do the following:
· Read the detailed information on the Serious Adverse Circumstances webpage( https://www.dur.ac.uk/student.registry/assessment/covid19/sacs/ ) before taking any further action. · If you have queries about either process speak to either your College or your Department. Students are strongly encouraged to speak to their College or Department if they think they may need to defer an exam.
More detailed guidance on the ‘No Detriment’ policy will follow once it has been finalised by the University (we anticipate this will happen on 5th May 2020).
Our belief is that the No Detriment Policy for Degree Classification (subject to final University approval), the Department-level mitigation (across modules and assessments as appropriate), the new online streamlined SAC Form and process, and the exam deferral means you have every opportunity to succeed and achieve the degree you deserve.
Kind Regards,
Sam Dale
Mr Sam Dale
Director of Student Support and Wellbeing Colleges and Student Experience Division The Palatine Centre Durham University Stockton Road Durham University DH1 3LE Tel: +44(0) 191 334 6120 or 07908984998 Co-Director, Durham University Mediation Service https://www.dur.ac.uk/academic.office
My pronouns are: he, him and his
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