Our assessment commitments 2021/22

During 2021/22, additional assessment measures were in place for all of our taught students to mitigate any ongoing effects of the pandemic.

As a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the University made a series of assessment commitments for the 2021/22 academic year – these are detailed on this page. 

From 2022/23 onwards, support for assessments is covered within our mitigating circumstances policy.

Moderation and scaling

Every year our examination boards discuss and approve assessment outcomes. They review any circumstances that have affected either individual or groups of students and take appropriate action to address these. 

Examination boards will review and, where appropriate, scale marks to ensure the performance of cohorts is not out of line with previous (pre-pandemic) years.

We'll continue giving more opportunities for scrutiny, with extra boards at Faculty and University level. This will provide extra reassurance of our high standards to students, employers and the professional bodies who accredit your degrees. 

Degree classification

Every year, we carefully review cases where students are just below a degree classification boundary. 

In 2020, the ‘boundary zones’ where students are considered were extended by 1% – this will remain in place for our 2021/22 cohort. This isn't a guarantee that you'll receive the higher classification, but we'll individually assess every case within the boundary zone. 

Postgraduate taught students will be able to achieve a distinction, even if they require a re-sit or receive a compensated mark.

Waiving re-sit fees

We won't charge any re-sit fees in 2021/22.

Changes to mitigating circumstances

We'll continue to accept mitigating circumstances requests for a wide variety of issues, and we'll accept a broader range of evidence for those requests:

• we won't require a letter from a GP or healthcare provider for medical conditions or a death certificate in cases of bereavement. Instead, you can provide a variety of alternative evidence to support your request;
• where your claim is for a long-term or recurring medical or mental health condition, we'll only ask for medical evidence once (unless there are accreditation or fitness-to-practice requirements). We'll also automatically carry these claims forward from the first application through to your final examination board;
• you can seek mitigating circumstances for assessments impacted by IT failure;
• you can seek mitigating circumstances for elite sporting commitments;
• we'll normally process assessment deadline extension requests within five working days.