Passed by: Senedd
Passed on: 19/04/2021
Policy lapses: 19/04/2024
Officer Responsible: Acadmic Affairs Officer
Status: Completed
Summary
During the disruption of Covid-19, students with special circumstances should be allowed to resit passed modules!
Details
Some Context - Last academic year, students were abruptly thrown into arguably one of the most difficult situations ever faced by young people in education. Teaching was suddenly unavailable how we once knew, assessments were being changed last minute, and the gaps in university support structures were becoming clear.
As a result, the university introduced a number of emergency regulations for academic progression - including an amended version of the current special circumstances process. Under these temporary rules, students were able to opt into an UNCAPPED resit for any assessment impacted by Covid-19, whether their original result was a PASS or a FAIL. Students were also not required to submit any special circumstances documentation, as the rules were applied automatically.
The Problem - On Wednesday 18th December, University Senate passed the decision to remove these measures for this academic year, replacing them with some much lesser mitigations. Under these changes, students impacted by Covid-19 will now have to apply for special circumstances, justify their level of impact, and hope that this application is granted by their department. With this, granted SC applications will only come into effect if the impacted module/assessment is failed or incomplete. This means that should a student face a severe impact this year due to covid-19 but still pass all their modules, these mitigations will not come into play and they will not be entitled to an uncapped resit.
Desired Outcomes - The Academic Affairs Officer will lobby the university to allow students with a granted special circumstances application the right to resit PASSED modules/assessments impacted by Covid-19.
Submitted by: Chloe Wilkinson-Silk
Action List
| Action Taken |
Name and Role |
Date |
The Academic Affairs Officer successfully lobbied the university for a Safety Net / No Detriment for the academic year 2020/21.
This has been implemented for all students, and to find out more about how it works check out their blog post here: https://www.abersu.co.uk/news/article/umabersu/Safety-Net-for-Aber-Students/ and the University FAQS here https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/important-info/living-and-learning-in-aberystwyth-2020-21/students/faqs/ (‘your Studies’) and https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/important-info/living-and-learning-in-aberystwyth-2020-21/students/faqs/#is-the-university-following-a-no-detriment-policy. |
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