Alternative academic regulations for undergraduate and postgraduate taught students

Introduction

Updated 16 December 2021

UWE Bristol will ensure during a continuing period of uncertainty that the academic regulations are able to support students in achieving their awards. The default position for 2021-22 is to follow the standard academic regulations and procedures, however we will continue to closely monitor the situation should any further impact of the pandemic mean that additional measures or alternative regulations need to be considered during the remainder of the academic year.

Please note that the granting of automatic retakes for failed modules (failed final attempts) where required will be retained this academic year to acknowledge the impact on teaching, learning and assessment last academic year.

Below is a summary of the measures that have been used by UWE Bristol to mitigate against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

If changes to the approach are required, the details will be published on this page.

Measures implemented in the 2019/20 academic year

Following the start of lockdown in March 2020 the University introduced a series of measures to ensure that students were not disadvantaged.

A ‘no detriment’ approach was developed, using a pre-pandemic average to calculate the weighted average for students’ assessments which had deadlines on or after the start date for their programmes in the 2019/2020 academic year and before Wednesday 18 March 2020.

A set of alternative academic regulations was also created, which introduced the following mitigations:

Use of students’ highest available mark in modules to compensate for the cancellation of exams. Some level 2 exams were unavoidably cancelled, and where this was the case, the best mark achieved for another assessment in the module was used in place of the cancelled assessment. This was done to enable students to pass the module rather than be given a ‘non-submission’.
Uncapping of resit and retakes. This was subsequently made a permanent regulatory change.
Granting automatic further attempts at failed modules to acknowledge the impact of the pandemic on teaching, learning and assessment.

Measures implemented in the 2020/21 academic year

The University reverted to the standard academic regulations for the start of the 2020-21 academic year. However, in response to further significant disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the following measures were implemented to ensure continuity of the 'no detriment' approach.

Increased use of 24-hour online assessment.
A temporary removal of evidence for extensions for the remainder of the academic year following the start of lockdown in January 2021.
Comparison of module mark profiles with the data from four previous years, raising marks for those modules where the outcome was below the four year average.
Continuing to grant automatic further attempts at failed modules to acknowledge the impact of the pandemic on teaching, learning and assessment.