Assessment and progression

It is essential that you attempt all assessments at the first opportunity, even if you do not think that you can fully complete them or achieve a pass mark.

If you are experiencing difficulties, you should contact your module tutor, course leader or personal development coach for help and guidance.

Details on how to submit each assignment are outlined in the module guide and in-course assignment specification. These documents can be found under each module on the Blackboard website.

All deadline dates for the submission of in-course assignments are highlighted on your Blackboard module pages.

Work submitted up to seven days after the deadline without previous consultation with the University, an extension or evidence of mitigating circumstances, will be marked at a maximum of 40% at undergraduate or 50% at postgraduate. This does not apply to resit work.

Feedback is an essential part of the learning experience. Formal feedback indicates the strengths and weaknesses of your submission and provides detailed guidance on how to improve your work.

You receive formal feedback and a provisional mark for each assignment. This is issued within 20 working days of submission.

The assessment regulations can be found in the student handbook. These regulations can be complex but you don't need to understand them during your first week. However, you should try to make sense of them and seek advice from your course leader if you require further clarification.

Extenuating circumstances are unforeseen and unpreventable situations outside of your control which have significantly impacted performance or attendance in a summative assessment and could not have been resolved in the time available.

It is your responsibility to submit work for the assessment by the deadline. However, there may be times when, for reasons outside your control, you have not performed as well as you could in your assessment. Or there may be circumstances that prevent you from submitting your assessment on time.

If you find yourself in this position, the Extenuating Circumstances Regulations enable you to request that your situation is taken into consideration. You must have taken reasonable steps to ensure that you could not have prevented the circumstances from taking place and it is your responsibility to notify the University of extenuating circumstances.

It is important that you discuss your situation as soon as possible with an appropriate member of staff, such as your module leader or course leader who will be able to provide you with guidance on the most appropriate course of action:

• short extension of up to seven days, usually for one module only (not available for a reassessment attempt)
• long extension up to the end of the academic year, or end of the assessment period, this is usually only offered to full-time students
• deferred submission of up to one calendar year from the original submission date, this is normally only available to part-time students
• suspension of study for a period of up to two years
• mitigating circumstances if the problems are outside of your control

In all cases you need to make a formal application. It will need to meet the agreed criteria and be properly approved by the University.

If you apply for mitigating circumstances, your application and the supporting evidence you supply, have to be approved by a Mitigating Circumstances Board. If it does not meet the criteria, then mitigation may not be granted.

All assessment results are considered and ratified by assessment boards, which include external examiners. Any feedback provided to students before an assessment board is given for the purposes of advice and guidance and to assist your learning. Any marks are entirely provisional and subject to confirmation. Only assessment boards are able to issue confirmed definitive marks.

The UK has a system called external examining, which is one of several ways we ensure that similar courses at different universities are of the same standard.

An external examiner is generally an experienced lecturer from another university or higher education institution, who offers an independent view as to whether the work of students on the course is of the correct standard.

They look at a sample of work (such as assignments and dissertations), discuss work with your lecturers and normally attend the assessment boards to endorse results.

They then produce an annual report which highlights any good practice they have seen and allows them to report any concerns they may have. They also confirm in their report that academic standards and achievement are comparable with the UK higher education sector. The external examiners' reports are made available to students through the 'courses' tab in e-Vision and are also considered annually at relevant course boards.

The name of the main external examiner for your course is available from the University's administration office. Your modules may have a different external examiner and your module leader can provide details on request.

Please note that as a student you are not permitted to contact external examiners directly and external examiners will not respond to any communication from individual students.

If you have any concerns about your course, then please speak to your course leader.

End of year results, and progression and award information is available on e-Vision. You receive an email to your university account informing you that your results and information are ready to access.

In common with other higher education institutions, undergraduate and taught master's degree students own the intellectual property rights to the work that they produce for their courses. However, there are limited exceptions to this, and these are set out in the Student IP Policy.