Degree Classification

If you are a finalist and have completed a project/dissertation or equivalent in Semester 2, the mark for this will contribute to your academic year average mark. Although your other semester 2 coursework marks won’t feed into your academic year average mark for the Part, the Board of Examiners will look carefully at all your Semester 2 marks when they classify your degree (this year for finalists and in the future for continuing students). So if your Semester 2 performance is stronger than your Semester 1 performance, this will be taken into account by the Board of Examiners.

Please see Degree Classification & Transcripts Policy – Rationale for not including Semester 2 marks in Part averages .

Finalists

The transcript that comes with your degree certificate is called a Diploma Supplement and is written to an agreed, pan-European template. It lists all the modules you have taken in each year of your degree and the module marks you achieved as well as the final degree classification. It has never listed the final average that we use to arrive at that classification and that will not change this year.

Continuing Students

The transcripts available to continuing students as a record of their work each year have never included the final average mark that we use to decide if you may progress to the next year of study and that will not change this year.

Your email on 26 March said if I did well in assessments submitted after 22 March my academic average could go up, so I have worked hard on my assessments. Then last week you said the Semester 2 marks will not count in my part average. So, from last week to now I have not worked as hard as I usually would. Will I have the opportunity to resubmit any assessment submitted during that period, so my best work is considered by the Boards of Examiners?

If you feel that as a result of the lack of clarity about Semester 2 work you have submitted work this Semester where you did not try your hardest, you should let us know that through the Special Consideration process. More generally, we have said that all students who wish to do so can opt to retake assessments designed for these modules at a later date. However, given that your final average will be at least as good as at the end of Semester 1, we recommend you reflect on your results from this year before deciding whether you want to do that. Your Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) and programme team will be able to offer you guidance on whether retaking assessments is likely to result in a significant improvement in your degree classification.

A number of my assessments were cancelled and replaced with a Compulsory Formative Assessment (CFA) instead. As Semester 2 marks will be looked at in terms of classification, will I be given the opportunity to take the original assessments so I can improve my position?

Once you have your results from this academic year, you can opt to retake assessments designed for these modules at a later date. However, given that your final average will be at least as good as at the end of Semester 1, we recommend you reflect on your results from this year before deciding on what to do. Your PAT and programme team will be able to offer you guidance on whether retaking assessments is likely to result in a significant improvement in your degree classification.

Currently we do not know when this would be, but it is highly unlikely that this would be in the University’s usual Supplementary period at the end of August this year. We are currently working through this issue, alongside delivery of education for 2020/21, and will provide further information in due course.

The Board of Examiners will look at your ‘No detriment’ and ‘Enhanced Classification’ positions and take the higher of the two positions. They will then consider all the marks you received in Semester 2, both before and after 22 March, alongside any recommendations from the Special Consideration Board, to test whether there is a case for upgrading the classification reached initially.

Where a student may be eligible for a higher degree class, the Board of Examiners will consider the profile of the student’s achievement in all Parts of the programme which contribute to  degree classification against the descriptors for classification (from the Framework for Higher Education Qualification’s Annex D: Outcome classification descriptors), and make a final recommendation for classification. Typically the Board would be looking for consistent high achievement in all of your Semester 2 marks (including from the project, dissertation or equivalent) to consider an upgrade to your degree classification.

Yes. Where a module was completed the module mark will be shown. Where a module was not completed, the marks for the work that was completed will appear. This will give you a record of study and achievement you can share with potential employers. Compulsory formative assessment set to consolidate learning or to meet PSRB requirements will appear on your transcript (known for finalists as a Diploma Supplement) as a single outcome allocated to a new module code. The student body will be consulted further on the options for displaying achievement on transcripts via SUSU’s academic representation system.

Transcripts will also include a generic statement to indicate that the academic year was completed under exceptional circumstances. The student body will also be consulted on the wording for this via SUSU’s academic representation system.

Currently we do not know when this would be, but it is highly unlikely that this would be in the University’s usual Supplementary period at the end of August this year. We are currently working through this issue, alongside delivery of education for 2020/21, and will provide further information in due course.

You should have received information about what, if any, further assessment you need to take. If you have not received this information, please contact your Student Office.

No that has not changed. The information from your School still describes correctly how we will reach the initial classification decision for your degree. What we have added is a process of individual consideration after that initial classification to decide whether that class should be upgraded based on any semester 2 work and your overall marks profile. Originally we offered this individual consideration to a small number of students whose classification lay close below a class borderline or whose programme had a very special structure, but now we have extended this process to include to all students.