Senate

Subject: Regulation changes

Origin: Learning and Teaching Committee, 4 June 2009

Executive Summary: This paper is an extract of the minutes of LTC discussion relating to amendments to four different Regulations. The proposed amendments and rationale for them are set out in the attached documents.

Senate action required: Senate approval is sought for the changes proposed.

1. Regulation XI – Diplomas in Industrial Studies, Professional Studies, International Studies and Professional Development (Graduate Professional Development Award)

Appendix 1

It was resolved to recommend to Senate additions and amendments to Regulation XI, firstly to make provision for handling circumstances where students on placement were unable to complete 45 weeks of attendance due to circumstances beyond their control, such as redundancy or short time working in the current recession, and secondly to make provision for the Diploma in International Studies to be awarded to students successfully completing a full year of study in a partner educational institution abroad. There had been consultation with departments on the first issue and the second involved a change in regulation to cover an omission without impacting on other routes to the DIntS.

2. Regulation XX – Undergraduate Awards

Appendix 2

It was resolved to recommend to Senate amendments to Regulation XX, firstly to clarify that Programme Boards could apply impaired performance decisions only to modules which students had specified on their IP claim form, and secondly to remove a clause rendered redundant by earlier changes. It was noted that the first change was made in the interests of consistency across departments. In obviously deserving cases – where a student’s performance was believed to have suffered in modules not mentioned on the IP claim – a department could apply for a waiver of regulation.

3. Regulation XXI – Postgraduate Awards

Appendix 3

It was resolved to recommend to Senate additions to Regulation XXI, to give more explicit guidance on which marks should be included for the purpose of determining the overall programme mark where a PG student left the programme with a PGCert or PGDip having attempted additional modules for a higher award. It was noted that in some cases, departments might need to define more clearly in their Master’s programme regulations which were regarded as the core modules for the lesser awards.

4. Regulation XVI – Tuition Fees and Payments for other University Services

Appendix 4

It was resolved to recommend to Senate amendments to Regulation XVI. These reflected the suggestion that students registered to resit modules during the following academic year ‘without tuition’ should be regarded as resitting ‘without attendance’, since it had been agreed they should still be able to access resources on Learn.

Author - Robert Bowyer

Date – June 2009