decisions

Decisions available to Board of Examiners

Module Appraisal Decisions

  • The range of decisions available to Board of Examiners by module is shown in Appendix 1A
  • Decisions on passed modules are not required. However, an explicit decision is required for each failed module i.e. a mark less than 40 for modules level 4-6 or less than 50 for level 7 modules. This decision should be taken by the Board of Examiners that owns the student’s programme. In the final stage of an Undergraduate or Integrated Masters degree, the Board should not consider passing modules by discretion (and there is no compensation available); rather they should return Fail for all modules with marks below the pass mark, and use discretion at the award level (if appropriate).
  • Currently support staff ‘interpret’ the decision of the Board of Examiners and allocate an appropriate progress code and module decision codes to each student. It is helpful if Boards of Examiners are aware of these codes and what they mean - ideally using them to frame their own decisions for students. This will minimise transcription / interpretation errors.
  • These codes are important as they will appear on the student’s transcript. Any inaccuracies will be referred back to the school and ultimately the Board of Examiners must justify the decisions made.

     

Stage Progress Codes / Decisions for Undergraduate Programmes

  • In addition, each Board of Examiners should make an explicit decision on the status of each student at the end of the Stage. The range of progress codes is given in Appendix 1B.
  • A decision is required on every student who registered (or was external) on the programme during the session. Some codes are essentially ‘temporary’ and would be over-written following the decision of September Boards.
  • These codes are important as they will be used to determine the section of the pass list on which the student’s name will appear, and to provide, where appropriate, information to LAs. In addition, some codes result in a ‘block’ on registration in the following September.

     

Progression Thresholds in Integrated Masters Degrees  

  • Discretion may be used in consideration of internal progression thresholds (Conventions 32, 39 – 41). This includes consideration of actual marks on resit, but Boards must be mindful to avoid giving resit candidates an unfair advantage over candidates who have passed modules.