Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017 Prof Chris LANGLEY Chair – RSC Sarah DAVIES Director of Quality Assurance and Enhancement Adam HEWITT Secretary – RSC 8th May 2017 17th May 2017 Slide 1

Programme for the session Slide 2 Programme for the session PROGRAMME FOR THE SESSION Introduction. Update on RoBED Project. Recent changes to Regulations. Developments in 2016-2017. Discussion and close. Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Training for Boards of Examiners Slide 3 Training for Boards of Examiners INTRODUCTION Advice to Boards of Examiners. The Senate has agreed that annual updating/training should be offered to all Chairs, Deputy Chairs and Secretaries of Examination Boards. In 2015-2016 the University Learning and Teaching Committee agreed with RSC that this training should be compulsory for all Examination Board Chairs. This is to ensure that the decision-making of Boards of Examiners is consistent and in accordance with current Regulations and best practice. Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Update on RoBED Project Slide 4 Update on RoBED Project UPDATE ON RoBED PROJECT Changes following the RoBED consultation. Areas of the General Regulations affected: Classification borderlines. Condonement. Exceptional circumstances. RSC has been monitoring award data. Review of relevant comments from External Examiners. Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Recent Changes to Regulations (1) Slide 5 Recent Changes to Regulations (1) RECENT CHANGES TO REGULATIONS Minor update to Aston Credit and Qualifications Framework (CQF). Introduction of the MBChB, Graduate Certificate and MCh Orth awards. Changing the qualification level of Foundation Diploma from 0 (zero) to 3 (three). Additional changes to General Regulations for Conduct of Boards of Examiners. In Appendix 1 “Criteria for the appointment of external examiners”, a new criterion was added as 2. This criterion is: In addition to the required subject expertise, does the proposed External Examiner have a suitable profile in relation to learning and teaching and are they also likely to have good awareness of the UK Quality Code? Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Recent Changes to Regulations (2) Slide 6 Recent Changes to Regulations (2) RECENT CHANGES TO REGULATIONS General Programme Regulations. Heading of “Attendance” has been removed and replaced with “Leave of Absence”. The regulation relating to action following attendance which does not meet the requirements of the programme specification has also been removed. It now just reads: School Learning and Teaching Committees, or their nominees, may approve a maximum of 24 months leave of absence.” This applies to: General Regulations for Foundation Degree Programmes – Section 3 (previously Section 4). General Regulations for Graduate Diploma Programmes – Section 4 (previously Section 5). General Regulations for Postgraduate Taught Programmes –Section 4 (previously Section 5). General Regulations for Undergraduate and Integrated Master’s Programmes – Section 3 (previously Section 4). Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Recent Changes to Regulations (3) Slide 7 Recent Changes to Regulations (3) RECENT CHANGES TO REGULATIONS “Virtuous” Credit. General Regulations for Undergraduate and Integrated Master’s Programmes have been amended to include the following (Regulation 6.1.3): If a candidate has failed 20 credits or fewer in a Stage at a third attempt, the Board of Examiners may substitute concurrently achieved virtuous credit from a pre-determined list approved by Executive Learning and Teaching Committee. Substitution is at the discretion of the Examination Board and consideration needs to be given to the Level of the substituted credit and the relevance of the failed credit to the programme learning outcomes. A substitute module(s) will be treated as a referred or repeat module(s) and the module pass mark shall be recorded for modules passed. Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Recent Changes to Regulations (4) Slide 8 Recent Changes to Regulations (4) RECENT CHANGES TO REGULATIONS General Regulations for Undergraduate and Integrated Master’s Programmes other updates: Regulation 5.5 is replaced with: The threshold for condonement of modules shall be 5% below the pass mark. Marks below the threshold may not be condoned. The mark obtained by the student for each condoned module shall be used by the Board of Examiners in calculating the overall mark for the Stage of the programme and/or the student’s degree classification. The student’s transcript shall indicate that the module was passed by condonement. The Options in case of Failure table in Regulation 6 has been amended to provide additional clarification. Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Recent Changes to Regulations (5) Slide 9 Recent Changes to Regulations (5) RECENT CHANGES TO REGULATIONS General Regulations for Undergraduate and Integrated Master’s Programmes other updates: A new Regulation has been included at 9.4: Where a student enters Stage F with no marks, the degree classification will be calculated based solely on marks awarded in Stage F. A new Regulation has been included at 11: A student who has been required to withdraw from a programme because of academic failure will not be allowed to re-enrol on that programme. Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Recent Changes to Regulations (6) Slide 10 Recent Changes to Regulations (6) RECENT CHANGES TO REGULATIONS General Regulations for Graduate Diploma Programmes, Foundation Degrees, Undergraduate and Integrated Master’s Programmes and Postgraduate Taught Programmes, other updates: Removal of: CHANGES TO PROGRAMMES The University reserves the right to make variations to the contents or methods of delivery of programmes, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. If the University discontinues any programme, it will use its reasonable endeavours to provide a suitable alternative programme. Statements around changes to programmes are now part of the student Terms and Conditions provided at enrolment. Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Recent Changes to Regulations (7) Slide 11 Recent Changes to Regulations (7) RECENT CHANGES TO REGULATIONS Regulations on Student Discipline: Introduction of two new regulations as below: B2.4 Where the University considers it possible that a criminal offence has been committed the University Disciplinary Procedures will not be used as an alternative to criminal proceedings. B2.5 Where the University considers it possible that a criminal offence has been committed and where the consequences of finding the accused guilty using the test of the balance of probabilities would have serious repercussions for the accused’s future career prospects and reputation, the University may decide that it is not competent to hear the case. Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Recent Changes to Regulations (8) Slide 12 Recent Changes to Regulations (8) RECENT CHANGES TO REGULATIONS Regulations on Student Discipline: Alteration to Regulation C2.1: The Academic Offences Officer will be the Associate Dean Undergraduate and/or Postgraduate Programmes and/or the Associate Dean Research, or other delegated member(s) of staff within the School in which a student is enrolled, or the person so designated by the Senate in the case of a student enrolled on an inter-School or collaborative programme. In a case where the student is studying a module owned by a different School to that in which the student is enrolled, the investigation for plagiarism will be undertaken by the Academic Offences Officer in the School that owns that specific module. The investigating School will keep the appropriate Associate Dean of the home School of the student informed as to progress of the investigation. Where a student is enrolled on a collaborative programme, the investigation will be carried out by the person so designated by Senate. Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Future work for RSC (1) RSC has set up a number of working groups: Slide 13 Future work for RSC (1) DEVELOPMENTS IN 2016-2017 RSC has set up a number of working groups: Regulations on the placement year – Working group to look at the regulations for the placement year. Proposals due to be put to May RSC meeting. Chair – Dr Carol MARLEY (Vice-Chair RSC). General Regulations for Flexible Programmes – Re-established following a number of requests for Exemptions from the Regulations. Chair – Professor Chris LANGLEY (Chair, RSC). Assessment Regulations and Policies – A complete review of this document following the identification of a number of areas requiring clarification. Chair – Dr Carol MARLEY (Vice-Chair RSC). Abandoned Examinations – RSC is looking to provide better guidance to Schools on actions following the abandonment of examinations. Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Future work for RSC (2) RSC has set up a number of working groups: Slide 14 Future work for RSC (2) DEVELOPMENTS IN 2016-2017 RSC has set up a number of working groups: Undergraduate and Integrated Master’s Borderline Classification for Students with Extenuating Circumstances – RSC understands that ‘increase the borderline band’ was considered unhelpful and unclear and was not giving students any real benefit and is to review this part of the Regulations – Dr Carol MARLEY (Vice-Chair, RSC). Postgraduate Progression Regulations – A review of the requirements for progression from the Taught Stage to the Dissertation Stage on MSc programmes. Chair – Dr Carol MARLEY (Vice-Chair RSC). Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Waivers of Regulations Slide 15 Waivers of Regulations DEVELOPMENTS IN 2016-2017 Enhancement of the Waiver system. Examination Board Review: Do Schools know how to get advice on applying for Waivers? Do Schools know what information is required to apply for a Waiver, who can do it and where it goes? Review and monitoring – RSC reviews requests for Waivers of Regulations and suggests changes to the General Regulations if a particular Regulation is causing a problem. The online Waiver request form now allows attachments to be added for further information, and generates automatic response emails. Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Other activity Review of Examination Board Minutes. Slide 16 Other activity DEVELOPMENTS IN 2016-2017 Review of Examination Board Minutes. This is important because: Increase of academic appeals. Minutes are supplied in the event of OIA complaints. Sarah Davies is looking to establish some training. Minor update to the student Extenuating Circumstances form. Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Programme for the session Slide 17 Programme for the session PROGRAMME FOR THE SESSION Introduction. Update on RoBED Project. Recent changes to Regulations. Developments in 2016-2017. Discussion and close. Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017

Examination Board Briefing 2016-2017 Prof Chris LANGLEY Chair – RSC Sarah DAVIES Director of Quality Assurance and Enhancement Adam HEWITT Secretary – RSC 8th May 2017 17th May 2017 Slide 18