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Assessment Handbook 2011-122012-13: 6. Subject and Degree Examination Boardsthat boards should refer closely to the Academic Regulations (Sections 4 and 5), aswell as to the Assessment Handbook. Remember that where Special Regulationshave been approved, these override the standard award regulations.6.69 The board shall make recommendations and decisions as follows, paying closeattention to individual cases:i) recommendations for award, where students are eligible (including exit awards);ii) recommendations for discretion (see below);iii) recommendations for field of study (see below);iv) recommendations for suspension of regulations;v) recommendations for application of unusual regulations (notably, discountingmodules due to extenuating circumstances, deferral of classification, andrecommendations for EC pass degrees and aegrotats – these recommendations areonly permissible where strictly defined criteria have been met, and not all of these arepossible for all programmes);vi) recommendations for first takes and (PG only) retakes;vii) recommendations for deregistration where students have failed and have noviii) approval of first sits, and other EC related decisions;ix) approval of resits.6.70 The board should note and endorse the recommendations of the extenuatingcircumstances sub-board, and discuss any cases that could not be resolved by thesub-board (see the Assessment Handbook chapter on extenuating circumstances formore details). The board should approve the outcomes of the recommendations; thiscan be done implicitly in straightforward cases such as first sits, but some cases,notably recommendations for first takes (reattempting the year with full teaching)must be presented to the Degree Examination Board for authorisation.6.71 Extenuating circumstances not taken into account elsewhere may be a factor inclassification. This may form part of an individual board’s approved discretionconventions, and for some undergraduate programmes a board may recommenddiscounting a limited number of credits with outstanding certified absences, ordeferring classification pending first sits (see Academic Regulations, 3.87). The ‘ECpass degree’ (Academic Regulations, 4.87/4.112) and, potentially an aegrotat(Academic Regulations, 4.63-67/5.56-5.60).Advanced standing in classification6.72 Marks achieved at other institutions shall not be included in the calculation of theCollege Mark. Instead, a truncated weighting shall be used, which simply removesthe year that will not count; for example, 1:2:4 becomes 2:4.Discretion6.73 SEBs have a certain degree of flexibility in applying certain regulations, for example:• SEBs may choose to recommend the award of a higher classification of degreewhere the College Mark is marginally below the required threshold, within strictconditions (see below);• SEBs may choose to permit progression where an undergraduate student missedmeeting the progression requirements by 15 credits or less, where there are attemptsremaining at some modules. (Academic Regulations, 4.75). This is not possible forsome programmes, where students must pass all requirements to progress.37
Assessment Handbook 2011-122012-13: 6. Subject and Degree Examination Boards• SEBs may choose to condone failure in up to 30 credits of modules for mostpostgraduate students, where students achieve marks of 30.0 in the failed moduleand 50.0 across all modules (Academic Regulations, 5.26). The required marks varyfor some programmes on special regulations.6.74 It shall be noted that each situation is dependent upon the SEB’s judgement inrespect of the specific situation under consideration. Discretion shall never be usedas an automatic response, as this would in effect lower QM’s requirements for award,including lowering the classification boundaries.Discretion in classification6.75 Discretion in classification can be used to award a higher classification than thatindicated by a student’s College Mark where strict criteria are met and the SEBagrees, with collective academic judgement, that the higher classification is morereflective of the student’s overall performance.6.76 There is no discretion at the pass/fail border, as this is a minimum standard ofachievement for award. However, the board should look carefully at the marks forthese borderline students to ensure that it is fully confident in them.6.77 Discretion shall never be used to lower the classification of a student once theindividual module marks have been agreed.6.78 The use and consideration of discretion shall always be recorded clearly in theminutes of the board, with a rationale for the decision. All students in the zones ofconsideration should be discussed; the minutes will then give an accurate record ofdiscussions, which is important as the decision may need to be defended onacademic grounds in the event that a student lodges an academic appeal. The viewsof external examiners are particularly important in such cases; these shall be soughtand recorded in the minutes where discretion is applied, along with their agreement.6.79 As with all award decisions, decisions on discretion are presented asrecommendations from the SEB, and are subject to approval from the DEB.Undergraduate6.80 QM has a formal policy on discretion for the award of higher classes of degree forborderline cases for undergraduate awards that classify on the First, 2:1, 2:2, Third,Pass scale (those that classify as Distinction/Pass/Merit should use the postgraduateapproach). The QM policy is an overarching framework, and shall always be used inconjunction with a detailed set of criteria specific to the SEB, which shall be approvedby the DEB. Discretion outside of these bounds would require suspension of theAcademic Regulations (4.62). The permissible zones of consideration forundergraduate discretion are as follows:Upgrade from Upgrade to Discretion zoneSecond Class, Upper Division First Class 2%Second Class, Lower Division Second Class, Upper Division 2%Third Class Second Class, Lower Division 1%Pass Degree Third Class 1%Postgraduate6.81 QM recommends that a zone of consideration of one percent from each border beused for postgraduate programmes, and for undergraduate programmes classified onthe Distinction, Merit, Pass scale. The QM policy is an overarching framework, and38
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