Assessment fairness and marking

Academic integrity and misconduct

Throughout your programme of study UCB will provide opportunities for you to develop your academic skills. The Helping you to study section of this handbook provides details of support available to students in developing academic practice. 

Cheating, collusion and plagiarism (including AI) are types of Academic Misconduct.  These are some of the names used for ways in which a student may present as their own, work completed, or written by someone else. Academic Misconduct is taken very seriously by University College Birmingham.

University College Birmingham's Code of Practice on Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct details the process by which matters of Academic Misconduct are investigated and the penalties that may be applied. University College Birmingham's disciplinary procedures relating to assessment offences are shown in the General Student Regulations.

The Guild of Students is available to support students with queries regarding Academic Integrity and Misconduct.

Ensuring that the grades you are awarded are fair

Before assignments are given to students, they are subject to an internal moderation process which ensures they are at an appropriate level, allow students to achieve the learning outcomes and have appropriate grading criteria in place. All assessments are marked in line with these criteria and then grades are checked by a moderator to make sure they are consistent and fairly awarded. This moderating of grades is then also looked at by an external examiner to ensure appropriate grades are awarded. The Assessment and Moderation Cycle shows you the process and considerations lecturers follow when assessing your work. All marks are provisional and may go up or down until the Board of Examiners has confirmed and published final marks.

Who sits on the Board of Examiners?

Module lecturers, tutors and senior lecturers from each course team are the staff who know each student and their work best. They all attend the exam boards at which their students’ work is considered. The relevant Head of Department will also attend the board which is chaired by the Executive Dean of the School or their nominee.

The Examinations Unit records all decisions made ready to publish. UCB Registry also attend every Board of Examiners to ensure that decisions are made in line with our Assessment Regulations and that practices are consistent across all exam boards.

At the External Board of Examiners meeting for students due to be awarded, one or more External Examiners will usually participate. External Examiners are experienced professionals, often senior teaching figures from other HE institutions or occasionally senior figures from industry. They are chosen for their expert knowledge of your course’s area of study. Their role is to monitor the quality of teaching and on your course and ensure that it is compatible with national standards. Further information on the role of External Examiners and an External Examiner Guide for Students are available.

‘Levels’ of Work

Students on Higher Education courses are assessed at various ‘levels’ during their course. It is now common practice to refer to ‘level of study’ rather than ‘year of study’. This is because students have various modes of attendance - for example, part-time courses take more years to complete than full-time courses. Some courses include a 48-week work placement and thus take longer to complete.

The various levels of study are shown below:

• Level 4 (Certificate Level): This is generally year one of full-time HE courses.

• Level 5 (Foundation/Diploma Level): This is generally the second year of full-time HE courses (or the second/third years of courses which include a 48-week work placement).

• Level 6 (Honours Level): This is the final stage of undergraduate degree work. Generally the third year of undergraduate degree courses (or the fourth year of courses that include a 48 week placement).

• Level 7 (Masters Level): This is postgraduate level.

Note: all assignments that you receive should confirm the ‘level’ of work that applies.

Use of Customised Grading Criteria Specific to Individual Assignments and Assessed Seminars

In addition to the use of generic grading criteria, you may undertake assessments where the lecturers issue additional criteria specific to that assessment. Furthermore, some assessments, for example those of a very practical nature, may specify different criteria. However, what is required of you and the grading criteria applicable should ALWAYS be made clear on the assignment.

Your lecturer may direct you to additional formative support or on-site facilities/services which you may find helpful.

Teamwork and its assessment

Should your assignment require you to work as part of a team, you will receive an individual grade based upon your performance, as well as personalised feedback. The module leader will explain how your individual grade and feedback will be determined.

Importance of word counts and presentation timings

Assignment word counts and presentation timings should always be observed. Ignoring a word count increases significantly the risk of your work losing marks because it lacked structure, flow, focus and clarity. Timings must be observed for assessed presentations for the same reasons.

Please note that for written assignments, the following are included in the word count:

• Main headings and sub-headings
• In-text citations

The following are not part of the word count:

• Title page, Contents page, Reference List and Appendices.
• Content in models, graphs, data tables and other exhibited figures or images, including their titles.

Examination Feedback

Students can access the examiner’s comments from their examination scripts by contacting exams@ucb.ac.uk for a Request to Access Examiners' Comments form.

Postgraduate students

For postgraduate students shortly after you receive assessment feedback from your module lecturer, provisional marks are relayed to the Examinations Unit and updated in the Results tab on the Student Dashboard. This information will enable you to track your progress on all assessments you have submitted.  Keeping track of the marks you receive will help you to gauge your performance.

Grading postgraduate work and final awards

Grading on these courses is based on a percentage grading system. The mark for a pass at Masters Level is 50%.  

Postgraduate awards are made at Pass, Merit or Distinction.  This is calculated using the formula in this document: Academic Regulations Part 2: Assessment, Progression and Award.

In general terms for postgraduate degrees

• 70%-100% equates to Distinction
• 60%-69% equates to Merit
• 50%-59% equates to Pass
• 49% and below is a fail

Understanding Credits

The number of credits awarded at each stage of study is very important. Each year of study could generate a maximum of 120 credits. Students must attempt all modules and assessments within a level of study. Normally, any student failing a module will be required to repeat or re-sit assessment in order to gain the requisite number of credits before progressing. 

For undergraduate programmes and the taught programme for postgraduates, students who have achieved fewer than 60 credits within the level of study, will usually be asked to repeat all failed modules and will not usually be offered a further opportunity to resubmit. There may be exceptions to this on programmes subject to PSRB requirements.

Credit is awarded when the learning outcomes for a module are met. This is usually indicated by achieving a pass mark for the module overall (40% at undergraduate level, 50% at postgraduate level). In some cases it may be possible to achieve a pass mark where at least one component of the module is not passed, as long as this is over 15%. In this situation credit may not be awarded. Full details can be found in UCB's Academic Regulations Part 2: Assessment, Progression and Award

Credit and Undergraduate Awards

Students should be aware that they must attempt all modules at each level. However, students must achieve a minimum of 200 credits on the Foundation Degree including 100 credits at Level 5 to be considered for admission to the Bachelor's Degree top-up year (this may differ for courses with Must Pass modules). 

For Bachelor's Degree students, a minimum of 320 credits must be achieved across the 3 years of the course (or 440 credits across 4 years for courses with placement) to be considered for an Honours degree. In addition, at least 100 credits must be passed in the final year for a classification to be awarded. By taking resits or repeating study (if required) you give yourself the best opportunity to achieve.

Any undergraduate student with questions about the number of credits they have achieved can contact the Examinations Officer for their course to discuss their situation.

Full details of the credits required to achieve an award can be found in UCB’s Academic Regulations Part 2: Assessment, Progression and Award.

Contact The Examination Unit