Assessment, Progression and Awards Information 2021/22

City recognises that the 2021/22 academic year has been significantly impacted by industrial action. The University has gathered detailed information on how industrial action may have impacted each module and this information will be available to Assessment Boards.

Each Board will have the option to apply additional mitigations where it has been determined that students may have disadvantaged due to industrial action. There is no need for you to report the disruption through completion of an Extenuating Circumstances form. Please see some further information here.

City also recognises that the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to have an impact on your studies in 2021/22.

We are continuing to take a sympathetic approach to Extenuating Circumstances (EC) claims for the 2021/22 academic year, however, you may need to provide additional evidence in some scenarios.
You can find full details regarding ECs and how to make a claim on the Student Hub

You can find full details regarding ECs and how to make a claim on the Student Hub.

First, please check the information on this guidance note which may provide the details you need.

If you still need help understanding your results letter or would like more information on how your marks were allocated, you should contact your Course Office.

During the 2019/20 and 2020/21 academic years, students at City, University of London – like so many worldwide - encountered significant disruption from COVID-19. City necessarily had to mitigate its impact on teaching and learning opportunities to ensure that you were not disadvantaged and this included the introduction of a ‘safety net’ alongside other mitigations.

For the 2021/22 academic year, in almost all respects the relevant Regulations and processes have reverted to normal. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University restructured many aspects of teaching and assessment to enhance flexibility and enable students to learn and to demonstrate their attainment and progress. Many of these restructured elements and flexibilities continued into 2021/22.

An enhanced Extenuating Circumstances Policy was in place to support you and Assessment Boards were empowered to apply mitigations in light of industrial action impact. More can be found in this FAQ and on the Student Hub.

Assessment Board decisions that include assessments from the 2019/20 and/or 2020/21 academic years: For the vast majority of students, awards or progression decisions made in the 2021/22 academic year will not have included any assessment results from the 2019/20 academic year where the safety net could be applied. For a small number (e.g. part-time students, those who had interrupted their study, partial repeat students, etc.) there may still have been some residual impact and Assessment Boards have been instructed to apply the safety net to eligible modules in line with the agreed University policy.

There may also have been a number of students with assessments taken in 2020/21 or who were yet to complete their 2020/21 programme stage and award/progression decisions were reviewed by a 2021/22 Assessment Board.

Where your marks were considered by the 2020/21 Assessment Board and it was scaled, this will have been retained. Where you were eligible for discounting of eligible modules completed in 2020/21 this will also have been retained on a pro-rata basis and in accordance with University policy. You should not have needed to request this.

Your Programme Specification includes details of the pass requirements for your programme. You can find your Programme Handbook on Moodle.

If you have not achieved enough credit to pass your Programme Stage, details of what you need to do next will be published in your results letter.

If you have any questions about what to do next, please contact your Course Office.

A resit is a second attempt at an initial failed assessment without having to repeat the original period of teaching and learning.

If you are being given an opportunity to resit an assessment, the marks for those resits will be capped at 40% for undergraduate modules, or at 50% for postgraduate modules.

However, if the Assessment Board has given you the opportunity to resit any assessment(s) as ‘attempt 1’, this means that an Extenuating Circumstances Panel has agreed that you will receive your full marks for those assessments.

You can find FAQs regarding Resits on the Student Hub: Exam FAQs.

If you were not able to participate in an assessment component and you have not submitted an Extenuating Circumstances form, then that component will be considered to be a fail and no mark or credit will be awarded.

If you are being given an opportunity to resit an assessment or partially repeat a year, marks for those assessment attempts are usually capped at 40% for undergraduate modules and at 50% for postgraduate modules.

This is noted on your results letter as ‘capped’ under ‘next attempt. However, if the Assessment Board has given you the opportunity to take your next attempt at the assessment(s) as uncapped, it has agreed that you will receive your full marks for those assessments.

Students who have valid ECs may be permitted to trail up to 15 credits (or 20 credits if a Programme Regulation has already been approved for specific programmes). Please see the Extenuating Circumstances section for how to submit a claim.

Students who do not have valid ECs will not be permitted to trail credit into the next academic year. It is therefore important that you submit an EC form as these will be used to identify your support needs.

Where students trail credits, they will be provided with full details of any additional costs (if relevant) they would incur.

School of Health Sciences students - Please note that due to PSRB requirements and clinical activities within SHS programmes, affected students/cohorts of students may need substantial flexibility and can trail up to 45 assessment credits. SHS students who fall into the above category are exempt from the requirement to submit an EC form.

An official transcript is a statement of your academic performance and progress on your programme of study at City, University of London. It confirms that you are or were a registered student at City.

You can view a copy of your transcript by logging into evision. Your transcript shows a detailed breakdown of the marks and credit you have achieved so far.

Abbreviations in the Marks column of your transcript

• ‘PA’ means Pass.
• ‘LO’ means that you have met the learning outcomes for that assessment component for the Programme Stage.
• ‘PM’ means that you passed the module following academic misconduct.

Find out more about transcripts and who to contact in your School.

If you would like to apply for an accuracy check of any of your marks from this academic year, please contact your Course Office. Clerical checks do not involve remarking; instead your assessment marks would be recounted to ensure they have been calculated correctly. Your request must be submitted within 28 days of the notification of your results.

Detailed information can be found in City’s Senate Regulation 19: Assessment Regulations.

Assessment Boards are held by each School as soon as possible after the completion of the final assessment for each Programme for that academic year. Their primary purpose is to ensure the Assessment Regulations are applied consistently and fairly. Following the Assessment Boards the agreed results are verified, signed-off and released.

Where appropriate Assessment Boards may also have the power to:

• request the investigation of assessment or exam irregularities
• request the investigation of conflicting grades of an individual student or cohort of students
• moderate grades where necessary
• request the investigation of any suspected academic misconduct
• request the re-sit of assessments or exams with material irregularities* or those which are suspected to have been compromised
• review the marks for any assessment which has been proven to be compromised or where material irregularities have been identified. This can result in the Assessment Board:
  • scaling marks up
  • scaling marks down
  • removing the assessment from calculations

* A material irregularity is an error made by the University, or some other issue that has been identified with the conduct of the assessment, that has affected the results.

Whatever action the Board takes will be proportional to the material irregularity or offence detected in order to ensure the academic integrity and value of all City awards. For help and advice on academic integrity please see available resources and services here: Academic Integrity & Misconduct Policy and Guidance

City Students’ Union will also be running their Study Well campaign, where they work with University departments to provide information and activities to support your academic experience and overall wellbeing. You can find further information about this on the SU’s website.

The Academic Learning Support Team has put together lots of helpful tips and information for studying online, which you can find here. You can also find further information about study skills and revision on their Student Hub page.

Library Services have created some guidance for citing and referencing your work correctly, which you can access via their website.

If you would like to request a review of a decision made by the Assessment Board (known as an appeal), you must make it within 28 days of the release of your current academic year results, following the Assessment Board.

Please note that appeals are only considered on permissible grounds, which are set out in Senate Regulations 20 – 21b on student appeals.

Before you appeal, please note that eligible students may be entitled to an additional attempt at assessments. Please check the relevant section in this guidance to see whether this could apply to you.

You can find details on how to appeal and further information on the Student Hub.

In view of the ongoing pandemic in 2021/22 and the potential impact on students, the University recognises that it may be in a student’s interest to repeat the year.

A full repeat year may be permitted where a student has approved Extenuating Circumstances affecting multiple assessments or if other criteria in Senate Regulations 19 are met. Please see the Extenuating Circumstances section for how to submit a claim.

A full repeat year may also be permitted where the student has been suspended in accordance with the Fitness to Study Regulation (subject to any PSRB requirements where applicable).

Where Assessment Boards permit an eligible student to repeat a Programme Stage in the following academic year, the student will be informed and provided with full details of any additional fees and costs they would incur, if they choose to take up that option.

Each Programme is subject to a maximum period of registration as set out in Senate Regulations 19.

In exceptional circumstances, and where a student has a limited volume of credit to complete, as Assessment Board may consider an extension to the maximum period of registration.

This is only in cases where the student has been severely impacted by disability, illness or other condition and it is in the best interest of the student to permit an extension.

If you are partially repeating, you will only be charged for the modules you are repeating. Fees are based on module credits – you can find an example below:

Representative example

We start by calculating how much of your year you will be repeating. In this example, let’s assume the total number of credits for the year is 120. You are repeating one 15 credit module and one 30 credit module. With this, we can work out how much of the year you are repeating:

• (15 + 30) / 120 = 37.5%
  This is the sum of credits being repeated / total credits = % of year being repeated

We use this percentage to calculate the exact amount you are due, ensuring you are not charged for modules you passed.

In this example, let’s assume your course fee for the new academic year is £9250. Note that fees the calculation is based on the new academic year fee, which may be slightly higher than last year to account for inflation. To work out how much you need to pay, we use the percentage calculated above:

• £9250 x 37.5% = £3468.75
  This is the base fee for new academic year x % of full course fee = Total fees due

Graduation ceremonies are currently planned to go ahead in July 2022 for both recent graduates and for those who were unable to attend a ceremony in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These will be held at the Barbican. For the latest information, please see here.

Students whose results mean they are eligible for Graduation but wish to appeal the Assessment Board’s decision are usually invited to a later ceremony provided the outcome of their appeal results in a successful award. However, please note that due to Covid-19, there are no in-person Graduation ceremonies during Summer 2021.

Please see our Student Hub Graduation Webpage for further details. If you are considering making an appeal, you should refer to the Graduation Terms and Conditions for further information (search: Graduation ceremony terms and conditions on City’s website).

We will work towards issuing a response to you within the normal timeframe (within 28 days).

The Union Advice Team in the Students’ Union can provide advice for students considering making an appeal. If you have been withdrawn from your studies, they can also provide information on other options that may be available.

Here at City, there are lots of services available to support you throughout your studies. If there’s anything which is worrying you or disrupting your normal work, study or personal life, you can contact the relevant service who can provide help. Some of the services you may want to speak to are:

• Student Centre
• Careers, Student Development and Outreach service
• Student Counselling and Mental Health Service
• Chaplaincy and Faith Advisory team
• Academic Learning Support

If you would like to learn more about what help and support City offers, refer to the Help and Support section of the Student Hub.

Additionally you can also access key student-facing Regulations, Policies and Guidance documents which will help support you in a range of situations and provide you with details regarding other City processes via the Student Policies and Regulations Webpage.