Undergraduate Student Guide 2012-2013 - Selwyn College ...

APPENDIX 2:
UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES: A STATEMENT OF THE COLLEGE’S
FORMAL POSITION
The College is highly supportive of participation by its students in a wide range of extra-curricular
activities and is proud of the many achievements by Selwyn undergraduates in sport, music, theatre and
other areas. It nonetheless expects all undergraduates to give priority to their studies during the eightweek
teaching term (Full Term) and to use such parts of the vacations as are necessary to consolidate
their existing work and prepare for the term ahead. Individual Directors of Studies will give guidance on
what is required in this respect. Students who believe it may be difficult for them to devote part of each
vacation to academic study are encouraged to discuss their situation with their Tutor. The College is
committed to providing such assistance as is necessary for all students to be in a position to meet this
requirement.
Failure in a College or University examination (which is understood to mean failure to appear in the
Third Class or above, or to be declared to have satisfied the examiners in an un-classed examination) is
rare at Cambridge. It is, however, the case at Selwyn, as at other colleges, that failure leads automatically,
except in cases of severe ill-health or other circumstances beyond the individual’s control, to the student
being sent down i.e. required to leave, albeit with a right of appeal to the College Council. It should be
noted in this connection that the University does not operate a system of exam resits.
It is also the case that the College reserves the right to send an undergraduate down for reason of serious
and prolonged neglect of his or her studies. Such neglect is, as in the case of exam failure, rare, but is
likely to have taken the form of persistent non-attendance at supervisions or other compulsory
University or College classes and/or long-term failure to produce written work for supervisors or
complete other required assignments.
It should be noted that this sanction will be imposed only in a case of exceptional seriousness, and only
after the student has been given a formal warning by the College’s Academic Committee and thus an
opportunity to retrieve the situation. Should this opportunity not be taken, the Academic Committee will
be reconvened to consider the case once more. As a result, the Committee may recommend to the
College Council that the student is sent down. The College Council will then meet to consider the
recommendation of the Academic Committee, and at this meeting the student will have the right to
make further representations. The final decision as to the student’s future rests with the College Council.
It is stressed that the College is well aware that a number of students will find themselves in situations
that temporarily prevent them from working as effectively as they would wish. No student in such
circumstances is at risk of being sent down. Anyone in this position is encouraged, instead, to confide in
his or her Tutor, who will respond with all due sympathy and counsel the student on how best to get
back on track.
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