Changes in 2009

A new policy specifying deadlines for the return of coursework and associated feedback has been added to the guidance on Feedback to Students, within the Assessment section. In normal circumstances, marked coursework and associated feedback should be returned to students within 28 days of the published submission deadline.

A summary of the key principles which govern the operation of quality assurance arrangements for the international campuses has been added to the Quality Assurance Structures section under the title Compliance with the Quality Manual - the International Campuses.

The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Fitness to Practise Procedures have been updated to reflect changes in Faculty structures and nomenclature, and:

• to permit disclosures of concern about a student to be made verbally (paragraph 1.2)
• to make explicit the power of the Dean of Head of Studies to exclude a student from clinical placements with immediate effect (paragraph 1.3)
• to clarify the procedure relating to the method by which students are informed of the disclosure (paragraph 2.1)
• to allow students to appeal to the University's Academic Appeals Committee against any decision taken by the FTP Committee (paragraph 8)

Policy on the audio and visual recording of lectures and other interactions by students has been added to the Miscellaneous Policies section.

A flow chart of progression, compensation and reassessment for Postgraduate Taught Courses has been added to the Regulations for Taught Masters Degrees, Postgraduate Diploma and Postgraduate Certificate courses.

Regulation 18 of the Taught Postgraduate Regulations has been amended to allow students a second resit opportunity, at the discretion of individual Schools.

Learning & Teaching Committee has agreed revisions to the University of Nottingham Qualifications Framework (UNQF) in light of changes to the QAA Framework for Higher Education Qualifications and the National Credit Framework for HE in England, both of which are effective from September 2009.  The following changes have been made:

• An amendment to Appendix B of the UNQF to map our awards on to new QAA levels and new titles of levels:

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/quality-manual/QAstructures/UNQF-AppendixB.htm

• An amendment to Appendix A of the UNQF to reflect new QAA qualification descriptors:

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/quality-manual/QAstructures/UNQF-AppendixA.htm

• The relocation of Ordinary Degrees from UNQF level 2 to level 3 awards, and a change of the credit requirement for Ordinary Degrees from ‘300 credits with at least 160 credits at level 2 or above' to ‘300 credits with at least 60 credits at level 3 .'
• A change of the credit requirements for the Practitioner Doctorate from ‘540 credits with at least 450 credits at level 4 and above and at least 270 credits at level 5' to ‘540 credits with at least 450 credits at level 4 and above and at least 360 credits at level 5'.

Following the acceptance by Learning and Teaching Committee of recommendations made by the Marking and Classification Working Group the Quality Manual has been updated as follows. Full guidance may be viewed in the relevant sections.

1. School Examination Boards

Where programmes are offered at the International Campuses, there should be appropriate involvement of International Campus Staff in the School Examination Board.

2. Code of Practice for External Examiners

Powers of the External Examiner

Point 9.2 relating to the entitlement to meet with students has been extended to include reference to meeting students from the International Campuses.

Point 9.5 has been replaced by a new Point 9.5 and 9.6 relating to the involvement of External Examiners in adjusting marks and the signing of marksheets by External Examiners.

Dealing with the External Examiner's Report

Where programmes are offered at the International Campuses, Schools should ensure that a copy of the External Examiner report is available to the International Campus and that they International Campus is involved in the response submitted to the external examiner and University.

In addition, the External Examiner Report Form has been updated to encourage specific reference to programmes offered at the International Campuses where these are offered.

Regulation 12 of the Regulations for Undergraduate Courses, which permits specific programmes more stringent progression requirements than the University norm, has been redrafted to clarify existing practice.   Additionally it codifies existing practice for students who fail to meet the progression requirements of the Foundation Stage of any programme.

Late Submission of Extenuating Circumstances : revised guidance on the late submission of extenuating circumstances was approved by Learning and Teaching Committee in February, to be effective immediately. The guidance has been revised to state: ‘Schools are entitled to reject automatically and without consideration all extenuating circumstances claims that are submitted after the relevant marks or qualification outcomes have been published to students. The only exception to this provision is where the student provides authoritative evidence (e.g. from a doctor) that they were clinically unable to submit the extenuating circumstances any earlier.'

Updates to the Assessment Section of the Quality Manual

1. The section on Rounding within the Marking and Grading guidance has been amended to provide more clarity.

2. Examples of Marking Schemes are available in the Good Practice Guide. Schools are encouraged to forward copies of marking schemes using the full range of marks (including categories above 70% and below 40%) to Sandra Mienczakowski for inclusion in the Guide.

3. Following the acceptance of recommendations from the Marking and Classification Working Group by Learning and Teaching Committee, the following updates have been made to the Quality Manual to be implemented for students registering on programmes from the 2009/10 academic year onwards:

i) Use of Borderlines :http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/quality-manual/assessment/degree-class.htm   

Schools should use a weighted profiling system for determining the degree class of borderline students and this should be made explicit and clear to students at the start of their studies through School Handbooks. Examples of profiling systems are available in the Good Practice Guide and Schools are encouraged to forward copies of profiling systems already in use to Sandra Mienczakowski for inclusion in the Guide.

ii) Approved degree classification weightings :

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/quality-manual/taught-programmes/programme-specifications.htm

A list of approved degree classification weightings has been added to the Programme Specification Guidance. The use of these weightings in degree calculation should be applied to students commencing their studies in 2009/10 and graduating from 2011/2012.

iii) Use of Vivas :

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/quality-manual/assessment/marking.htm .

Further guidance on the use of individual vivas for borderline candidates on taught programmes has been added to the section on Viva Voce Examinations. Formal records of all such vivas should be kept.

Guidance on minimum levels of assessment necessary to test learning outcomes has been added to the Module Specification guidance. The guidance outlines minimum levels by module credit value. See section 17 of the Module Specification Guidance.