Interim Progression, Award and Boards of Examiners Arrangements
Email issued to students on 26 May 2023
Dear Students,
As we approach meetings of the Boards of Examiners that agree student progression and award decisions, I am writing to confirm the arrangements now in place to assist Boards in making such decisions during the period of the marking and assessment boycott by some members of the University and College Union (UCU).
I confirm that the University Senate, the University’s most senior academic body, has approved revised assessment regulations which extend some of the flexibility within the University’s currently published assessment regulations to mitigate against the potential impact of the boycott in a relatively small number of programmes.
The revisions recognise the fundamental importance of maintaining the academic integrity of Queen Margaret University degree awards, while addressing the exceptional circumstances presented by the boycott of marking and assessment in place from 20 April 2023. Such recognition is in the interests of students achieving Queen Margaret University awards, and in the interests of prospective employers, including those requiring professional registration. Importantly, the revisions are designed to be permissive i.e. to provide additional flexibility to boards of examiners where necessary.
Award recommendations agreed by Boards of Examiners on the basis of incomplete assessment information, as provided by these regulations, will be revisited upon receipt of complete assessment information. Awards made by Boards of Examiners may be confirmed or improved, but may not be downgraded or rescinded.
On the basis that the majority of student work will be assessed, with outcomes available to the Boards, the expectation is that this flexibility will be necessary in a relatively small number of taught programmes. If there remain any programmes for which we still have insufficient evidence on which to make an award/progression decision, we will contact the affected students next week (w/c 26th May)*, as soon as that information is available, to advise them further.
Principles
The following key principles continue to apply to all decisions taken by the University on student assessment, progression and award:
- No student will be disadvantaged in terms of their assessed outcomes because of any disruption to the assessment of their performance.
- Students’ achievement of threshold learning outcomes will be protected.
- The flexibility provided by the University’s existing published regulations, including those set out in the regulations governing assessment and the operation of Boards of Examiners, will be invoked wherever possible.
- Where necessary flexibility is not provided, boards of examiners will operate under the interim regulations and supporting guidance, as approved by the University Senate.
- Priority will be given to the assessed outcomes of students on the final year of a programme, so as to ensure that award decisions are not delayed unduly.
Interim revisions to published General Assessment Regulations
The interim arrangements governing progression, award and board of examiners are available in full on our Assessment Regulations webpage and will be subject to review by the Senate by 30 September 2023.
It’s important to note that the University’s published assessment regulations provide already for Boards of Examiners to come to a decision in the absence of full assessment information. Specifically, and for reference, Regulation 11.1 of the current regulations provides Boards of Examiners with ‘discretion to make an award in the absence of complete assessment information’ and where ‘there is enough evidence of the student's achievement at the level at which they are being examined, which would normally equate to two thirds of the assessable work at that level, or evidence is subsequently obtained’. In considering award decisions this year, Boards of Examiners will be operating under the normal published regulation described above – there is no change to this regulation.
However, with the approval of the Senate, under the Interim Regulations, Boards of Examiners are empowered to exercise equivalent discretion, in the absence of full assessment information, to progression decisions.
Such extension provides Boards with the flexibility to approve the progression of full-time UG and PG students to the next academic level, with up to 40 credits outstanding. For all programmes subject to accreditation by Professional and Statutory bodies, the application of flexibility of progression regulations will be made in the context of any other guidance provided to the relevant Board of Examiners by those professional bodies.
Additionally, the University Senate has approved provision for the waiving of elements of the general assessment regulations around blind double marking, internal and external moderation. Under these interim regulations, the provision for blind double may be waived where available summative assessments have been moderated on a sampling basis by either an internal or an external examiner.
The provision that all student work contributing to the student’s final award or degree classification must ‘normally’ be moderated by the relevant External Examiner(s) prior to the meeting of the Board of Examiners may be waived where available summative assessments have been moderated on a sampling basis by an internal examiner. In agreeing this, Senate has agreed the latitude provided within the existing regulations by the use of the term ‘normally’ in the regulation.
Professor Richard Butt, Deputy Principal
*This action has been superseded by Marking and Assessment Boycott FAQs published on our website on 1 June.
