Part J - Board of Examiners Regulations

1 Board of Examiners Regulations  

  

1.1 Boards of Examiners will determine a student’s entitlement to tenure, continuation, and receipt of a University award (completion).   

  

1.2 Each College has a tiered structure of Boards of Examiners comprising Subject and College Boards of Examiners.   

  

1.3 Boards of Examiners will have responsibility for setting all assessments for students and for approving the timing of assessments. It is the responsibility of the Board of Examiners to consider and ratify the approved marks for the modules and to recommend the form of reassessment where a module has been failed by a student. 

  

1.4 Boards of Examiners will ensure that the arrangements for the assessment of students are consistent with the assessment regime established at validation for a programme. 

  

1.5 No decision of a quorate Board of Examiners, acting within its approved Terms of Reference, may be modified by any authority within the University except as provided by the Academic Appeal Regulations or by the Annulment of Formal Assessments Regulations.   

  

1.6 The proceedings of Boards of Examiners are confidential. 

  

1.7 Module marks are approved when the schedule of marks for the module is signed by the module co-ordinator and, where relevant, the External Examiner. 

  

1.8 Decisions concerning a student’s right to continue from one Level to the next, and on a student’s entitlement to an award, are made by the Board of Examiners. 

  

1.9 The decisions of Boards of Examiners will be made available to relevant advisers and academic tutors to enable advice and guidance to be given to students. 

  

2 Publication of Results 

  

2.1 Individual students who are sponsored, either by their employer or another educational institution, may give their consent for their results, attendance record, or other information to be made available to their sponsor. Students who are sponsored and who wish to make their results available and details to their sponsor may have to complete “The Consent to the Disclosure of Personal Information to Employers and Institutions Sponsoring Programmes” form. Disclosure will only be made where a student has completed and signed the consent form where it is appropriate. 

  

2.2 Student Registry Services will ensure, where permitted, each student is provided with information on the results of assessment, reassessment opportunities or requirements, entitlement to continuation and, where appropriate, entitlement to a University award (completion). 

  

2.3 Assessment results for taught students are released online. A schedule of release dates for results is published on the Portal. The student is responsible for accessing this information about their results. 

  

2.4 Results for final year students, together with the transcript of all module marks and their certificate will be presented to students at the University’s Graduation ceremonies, except where a student has made a formal request to receive them earlier. Students unable to attend the relevant ceremony will receive the above-mentioned documents via recorded delivery within four weeks after the ceremony 

  

3 Annulment of Formal Assessments 

  

3.1 In addition to the provisions for annulment arising from appeals against decisions of Boards of Examiners, Academic Board may annul an assessment in whole or in part if it is found that a serious irregularity has taken place in the conduct of the assessment, or if force majeure has prevented or seriously impaired the participation of a group of students in the assessment. 

  

4 Authority to Vary and/or Revoke Awards 

  

4.1 Where a Board of Examiners, having made an award to a student, is satisfied that the attainment of the award involved malpractice, fraud, an academic offence, or other dishonesty, then the Board of Examiners may revoke or vary the award that has been made to the student. 

  

4.2 This power may only be exercised once due account has been taken of the evidence and the student concerned has been given the opportunity to address any allegation. Where it is proposed that that an award should be varied or revoked the Board of Examiners will make the necessary arrangements to satisfy itself that a student has a reasonable opportunity to address the allegation. 

  

4.3 In the event of the revocation or variation of an award, the student may have recourse to the University’s academic appeals procedures on the same basis as any other student seeking to challenge a decision of a Board of Examiners. 

  

4.4 Where the Academic Board is satisfied that any behaviour, whether past or current, on the part of the recipient of an honorary award is likely to bring the University into disrepute, then the Academic Board may revoke the award after consultation with the Board of Governors. 

  

5 Aegrotat Awards 

  

5.1 Where a student’s performance has been seriously adversely affected by illness or other valid cause and the student has been prevented from completing their programme, the Board of Examiners may agree that an Aegrotat award be conferred. 

  

5.2 Aegrotat awards may be considered at any Level provided the Board of Examiners is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the available evidence of previous performance demonstrates that the student would have achieved their chosen award were it not for the circumstances that prevented completion of their studies. 

  

5.3 For postgraduate research students, the CRDB will appoint Examiners to review the thesis material and they will decide whether the student would have been successful had it been possible for the examination to take place.  

  

5.4 Where a student has died before completing their programme a Board of Examiners may agree that an Aegrotat award be conferred posthumously. 

  

5.5 Aegrotat awards are conferred without classification. 

  

5.6 This provision does not apply to programmes that also lead to professional registration or accreditation. 

  

6 Exceptional Examination Boards 

  

6.1 An Exceptional Examination Board may be established to review awards made to students where allegations of malpractice, fraud etc. have been raised. 

  

6.2 The Exceptional Examination Board will meet to review the circumstances pertaining to the allegations. All evidence will be independently reviewed before being presented to the Board. The review will be undertaken by the University Registrar, as they will have had no prior connection with the programme. An academic external to the institution will be appointed and will be responsible for confirming the robustness of the evidence and the soundness of the proposal for each student. 

  

6.3 The Exceptional Examination Board will comprise two senior academics of the University without prior connection to the programme and two External Examiners, one of whom should have experience of higher education in the country concerned. It will be chaired by a Pro Vice Chancellor, as nominated by the Vice Chancellor. 

  

6.4 The Exceptional Examination Board will meet as many times as necessary to ensure the awards are properly confirmed.