COVID-19: Academic Measures In Place To Support Your Studies (2020/21)

This is not the academic year any of us would have wished for but I wanted to reassure you that the university is working tirelessly to ensure we take account of the impact of coronavirus in relation to the assessment of your work.

We have put in place a range of measures designed to ensure that students at all levels of study are not academically disadvantaged in the results and awards you achieve this year.

Teams across the university have reviewed every aspect of your learning and the following measures have been put in place to support you.

Foundation students

The information on this story applies to Level 3, undergraduate and postgraduate students.

If you are a foundation student, please read your update on academic measures.

Adjustments to assessment deadlines and requirements

We’ve provided more time for assessment where necessary; your course team will have talked to you directly if it applies to you.

Submission requirements

Your course team will have carefully considered submission requirements and made adjustments if they felt this was necessary, modifying tasks and submission formats to enable you to work and submit for assessment remotely.

The late submission regulation has been simplified:

• The one-hour late deadline has been suspended and there is now a 24-hour late submission window.
• The penalty for late submission has been reduced to a single increment – for example a B+ would become a B.

Extenuating Circumstances

We’ve relaxed the requirements for evidence for Extenuating Circumstances (ECs) claims - no evidence is required for claims this academic year.

We have also extended the criteria for claiming ECs to include issues you may be having relating to IT or equipment.

You only need to submit an Extenuating Circumstances Claim when you consider that your work has been affected by your situation, or you are not able to complete it. You should still submit whatever work you can.

Adjustments to how we’ll determine marks and award classifications

To ensure the profile of results achieved by our students is consistent with the pattern of previous years, our examination boards will have an enhanced degree of flexibility to adjust grades.

This will allow those boards to undertake a scaling of results, based on comparisons with trends over previous years, and for results to be adjusted to ensure fairness.

Where coronavirus appears to have had an impact and marks are noticeably lower in comparison with previous years, exam boards will be able to agree to raise marks for all students.

This was done successfully to a limited extent in summer 2020 and it will be expanded to provide the main ‘safety net’ mechanism for grades in 2021.

Graduating students on BA degrees have already benefited from the application of a revised calculation for level 5 results in 19/20. The University’s dual algorithm ensures these level 5 results will contribute to the calculation of the final classification of their degree if they are better than the final year, level 6, results on their own.

Pass/Fail only for first year undergraduates

All first year undergraduate units will be assessed as Pass/ Fail only to simplify assessment and focus on learning.

Students will be required to demonstrate you have met the learning outcomes by achieving a pass. You will receive feedback on your assessments but not a grade judgement on your performance.

Expanded Hardship Fund

We have expanded the financial support we offer to students who need it. Students can apply for financial support for costs linked to studying remotely. More funding is also available to meet the cost of equipment deemed essential by your course team. Information is available on the University Hardship Fund page .

Further support

It’s critical to engage fully with the teaching, learning and assessment on your course and submit what you can for every unit.

You should also tell us at the earliest possible moment about any specific personal circumstances which are hindering your ability to engage with teaching, learning and assessment.

We are confident all the measures we are taking will support you to achieve the marks and awards you deserve and which you would have expected under normal circumstances.

We are closely monitoring UK government guidance and we will update you on plans for reopening our sites as soon as restrictions are lifted.

In the meantime, if you have any specific questions about your course, please speak to your course team in the first instance.

For questions on the points above or general university policies, please get in touch with studentcomms@arts.ac.uk .

If you need further support, including for your mental and physical wellbeing, you can find all the details you need on the Student Services page on our website.