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Code of Practice on Examining

Contributors: Quality Office

Consult the University's Code of Practice on Examining for policy and good practice relating to all aspects of the examining and assessment of undergraduate and taught postgraduate students.

  • Code of Practice on Examining 2010/11 (PDF) (Note: this code is currently under review for the 2011/12 academic year. The new version will be available as soon as possible. Please refer to the 2010/11 version of the Code in the meantime)

Contents of the Code

The Code of Practice on Examining contains the following codes and sections:

Section Contents

Code of Practice on the
Assessment of Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Students

Policy and good practice relating to:

  • schemes of assessment and degree classification;
  • assessment types and methods;
  • setting assignments/examination question papers;
  • penalties for late submission (undergraduate programmes);
  • security and confidentiality of question papers and scripts;
  • feedback on assessment;
  • marking standards and marking consistency, including procedures relating to student anonymity;
  • staff induction and development in relation to departmental assessment and marking and grading practices.

Procedures governing the Appointment of Examiners
  • the powers of Boards of Examiners;
  • external examiner nomination and approval procedures;
  • external examiner payment rates;
  • internal examiners appointment;
  • additional examiners appointment.

Code of Practice on
External Examining 
  • the function of the External examiner system;
  • external examiner periods of service;
  • the briefing of examiners;
  • the role of the external examiner;
  • external examiner reports (structure).

Code of Practice on
Internal Examining 

Describes the responsibilities of Heads of Department and Internal Examiners in relation to the examination and assessment of students. 

Procedures governing the
Conduct of Boards of Examiners 

Aspects relating to the conduct of boards of examiners:

  • membership and attendance
  • conduct of meetings
  • consideration of extenuating circumstances

Procedures governing the Consideration of External Examiners Reports

The process of the consideration of external examiners reports:

  • from receipt by the Vice-Chancellor to the consideration of reports by a Panel comprising the Academic Directors that reports to Academic Policy Committee
  • the role of the reports in contributing to assessment practice and academic planning at departmental level.
Code of Practice on
Plagiarism 

The University's approach to the prevention, identification and handling of cases of plagiarism, including:

  • induction;
  • early period of registration;
  • identifying plagiarism;
  • procedures for discouraging plagiarism;
  • poor scholarship;
  • pursuing a plagiarism investigation;
  • penalties for plagiarism.

Appendices
I Honours degree programmes: General Regulations 
II University Postgraduate Awards
III Medium of Instruction (Extract from General Regulations)
IV Undergraduate Examination Conventions and Scheme of Assessment
(Degree classifications, Schemes of assessment, assessment criteria at module level)
V Postgraduate Assessment Conventions, Classifications and Scheme of Assessment (Scheme A and B, Scheme of Assessment for MRes degree programmes, resits and resubmissions) 
VI Aims for Undergraduate Programmes
VII Aims for Taught Postgraduate Programmes 
VIII Illness and Notification of Mitigating Circumstances
IX Examination Regulations (Extract from General Regulations) 
X Instructions regarding the use of assessment anonymity
(Examination anonymity, anonymous marking of coursework assignments)
XI Notes of Guidance for Academic Directors of the Colleges and Heads of Department on Alternative Examination Arrangements for Undergraduate Students
XII Nomination Form for the Appointment of External Examiners for Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Courses
XIII External Examiners Report to the Vice-Chancellor pro-forma 
XIV Academic Dishonesty
XV Appeals process for Undergraduate Students (Extract from General Regulations)
XVI Appeals process for Postgraduate Students (Extract from General Regulations)