Assessment, Progression and Awards Information 2022/23

During the 2022/23 academic year, some staff at universities across the UK, including City, University of London –took part in industrial action, including a marking and assessment boycott.

Our priority has been to minimise the disruption to your education and student experience. We have been working with colleagues across the University and Students’ Union to develop our plans and put mitigations in place where possible.

In relation to missed teaching sessions, 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 been disadvantaged due to industrial action that we were unable to fully mitigate. This may include an uncapped additional attempt at an assessment or scaling of marks across the entire cohort, for example.

There is no need for you to report the disruption through completion of an Extenuating Circumstances form and your School will notify you if you are eligible for any further mitigations. You can find further information on industrial action on the StudentHub.

The University and College Union (UCU) confirmed the commencement of a marking and assessment boycott (MAB) by their members at 145 UK universities, including City, from Thursday 20 April 2023.

The impact of this action will vary across the University and will be very limited in some programmes. The majority of students will not be affected at all and those assessments will have been marked in line with our Assessment Regulations.

If your results have been impacted by the MAB, your School will advise you of this. If your School has not done so, your marks have not been impacted.

If your results have been impacted by the MAB, then Assessment Boards can apply the University’s Framework for Managing Disruption to Assessments and Assessment Boards Impacted by the Marking and Assessment Boycott 2022/23 to assign you an interim calculated mark or make provisional progression or award decisions until a final decision can be made. You do not need to request this. You can find further information on industrial action on the StudentHub.

In order to enable progression and completion, where marks are missing due to the marking and assessment boycott, Assessment Boards will calculate and assign interim marks where possible. Not all students will be eligible for this option as we must have a reliable indicator of performance on that specific module to date or performance from a past assessment period, and you must have completed all assessments. Some programmes may also not be eligible, such as those with professional body requirements (PSRB).

Where a Board is able to calculate an interim mark, this will normally be based on:

• The marks which you have already achieved in the module to date, where at least 40% of module marks are available; or
• The marks which you have already achieved on other modules, where at least 60 credits have been completed in your current programme stage or where you have a complete previous programme stage with which to base an interim mark on.

If any of your marks have been calculated in this way, your School will let you know.

After the period of industrial action ends and where your actual marks become available, Assessment Boards will reconvene and agree final marks as soon as practically possible and will communicate this to you via email. Your marks and/or award Classification will not move down, so you will retain the higher of the interim mark/award and the actual mark. You can find further information on industrial action on the StudentHub.

Where your programme has professional body requirements (PSRB) that prevent us from calculating an interim grade, or we don’t have a sufficient past period of assessment with which to base a calculated grade on, we are unable to calculate an interim grade for any marks missing due to the marking and assessment boycott.

In cases such as this, Assessment Boards are permitted additional flexibility to make the following provisional decisions:

• Pass/award – where you have already passed each module beyond any doubt, i.e., you have met the pass requirements of all modules, the Board may provisionally progress you to the next programme stage or provisionally award you (decisions on award classifications may not be possible at this stage). When your marks become available, Boards will reconvene and agree more detailed results and decisions.
• Fail – where you have failed the programme stage beyond any doubt, i.e., even passes at 100% in the missing assessments would not be sufficient to turn a fail into a pass, the Board can provisionally agree a fail decision. You may, however, be eligible for an exit award. When your marks become available, Boards will reconvene and agree more detailed results and decisions.
• Insufficient information (students progressing to the next year/stage of their programme) – where your current outcome is fail due to missing marks, but there is outstanding unmarked work that could enable you to progress to the next programme stage, the Board will not return a fail decision. Where marks are missing, the Board will advise you that you may need to resit that assessment so that you can prepare as soon as possible. Where actual marks become available it may transpire that you have passed some of these assessments and your resit will no longer be necessary. The Board will email you to confirm more detailed results and resit decisions as soon as possible.
• Insufficient information (students to be awarded and Graduate from their programme) – where your current outcome is fail due to missing marks, but there is outstanding unmarked work that could enable you to be awarded, the Board will not return a fail decision. The Board can agree a provisional general award to be made to permit you to attend Graduation so you can celebrate with your cohort but we will not be able to present you with your certificate on the day. Where marks are missing, the Board will advise you that you may need to resit that assessment so that you can prepare as soon as possible. Where actual marks become available it may transpire that you have passed some of these assessments and your resit will no longer be required. The Board will email you to confirm more detailed results and resit decisions as soon as possible.

You can find further information on industrial action on the StudentHub.

Graduation ceremonies will be going ahead in July 2023 at the Barbican Centre. For the latest information about the ceremonies, please see our Graduation page on the StudentHub.

If you were impacted by the marking and assessment boycott, you may be provisionally awarded with interim calculated marks or with missing marks. In cases such as this, you are permitted to attend Graduation so you can celebrate with your cohort but we will not be able to present you with your certificate on the day. Any award agreed by the Board will not be classified at this stage or may be a general award until your marks become available and we can agree more detailed results and decisions.

Once your award is agreed, you will either receive your certificate by post or can choose to collect this from campus.

You can find further information on industrial action on the StudentHub. If you have been impacted by the marking and assessment boycott, you will receive communications from your School to explain this with your results.

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.

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.

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

If you are applying internally for a City undergraduate degree programme, we will take into account any interim or missing marks when making a decision on your progression application.

If you are applying for a programme external to City, please contact your School Industrial Action inbox for additional support.

If you are applying internally for a City Masters degree programme, we will take into account any interim or missing marks when making a decision on your progression application.

If you are applying for a programme external to City, please contact your School Industrial Action inbox for additional support.

If you are a final year student wishing to apply for a Graduate Immigration Visa route, but your final award has been impacted by the marking and assessment boycott, the Home Office issued a concession confirming that they will use their discretion and will hold Graduate route applications made before the applicant’s results have been received, provided that the results are received within 8 weeks of the application being made.

Please note that you will be applying for a Graduate Immigration Visa route on your own risk, in case you have not received final results before you apply.

For further advice and guidance please email the International Student Advice Team.

If an unforeseen circumstance had a direct impact on your capacity to study prior to an assessment, ability to complete an assessment, or performance during an assessment, you may wish to submit an extenuating circumstance (EC) request. 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.

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.

Alternative arrangements are in place for programmes impacted by the marking and assessment boycott

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 normally capped at 40% for undergraduate modules, or normally 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.

Due to the impact of the marking and assessment boycott, where marks are missing or where your interim mark is below the pass threshold, we may have to advise you to prepare for a resit for an assessment component that you may subsequently pass when your actual marks become available.

We are doing this to allow you as much time as possible to prepare for resits and we will strive to mark all assessments as soon as possible and return to you with definitive resit decisions.

You can find FAQs regarding Resits on the Student Hub.

Our Academic Skills Team can also support you when preparing for resits or resubmissions.

If you are an international student sponsored on a Student Visa, please find guidance on the student visa responsibilities page.

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 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 usually 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.

Trailing of credit means permitting a student to complete a limited number of outstanding assessments (no more than 15 credits) in the following academic year whilst continuing with the next block or stage of the Programme. Students who have valid Extenuating Circumstances (EC) 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 & Psychological Sciences (SHPS) students - Please note that due to Professional Body (PSRB) requirements and clinical activities within SHPS programmes, affected students/cohorts of students may need substantial flexibility and can trail up to 45 assessment credits. SHPS 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 (see Appendix 4).

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.

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.

Partially repeating the programme stage with attendance allows you to return in the next academic year to attend classes and attempt your failed assessments again.

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

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:

• International Student Advice
• 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.