Industrial Action - Update
AS the lecturers strike continues Queen's Students' Union has issued advice to the student population.The Union has advised that students' continue to study and revise for their exams and e-mail the Vice-Chancellor to highlight their concerns.
Nationally, the new Secretary of State for Education, Alan Johnston has advised the Union to accept the pay offer describing it as "very generous." On Monday the Lecturer's Unions turned down a pay increase of 12.6% which is just over half of what they are demanding.
As the exams come closer students' fear that examinations may not be set and this will prove particularly difficult for the final year students who would be due to graduate at the start of the summer. In a worst case scenario the strike could cause graduations to be delayed, however lecturers remain confident of a resolution to the situation.
posted by Gown Team at
7:22 pm
9 Comments:
at the AUT meeting on Tuesday the Pro Vice Chanchellor said no matter what happens graduations will take place on the week they have been set for, without a doubt.
I wonder how he can say that?
he refused to say what the contingency plans were but hinted that grades would be assigned roughly in line with marks we already had from the years that count towards the degree anyway. or that marking would be done someone, with or without the lecturers. it was pretty vague but he was insistant we would have our degrees
he refused to say what the contingency plans were but hinted that grades would be assigned roughly in line with marks we already had from the years that count towards the degree anyway. or that marking would be done someone, with or without the lecturers. it was pretty vague but he was insistant we would have our degrees
Just seen this on QOL.
SUPPLEMENTARY PROCEDURES FOR 2005-2006 EXAMINATIONS
1. Introduction
The University has taken the position that all examinations and assessments should progress as normally as possible and that graduation ceremonies will take place as planned in July 2006. This paper identifies the emergency procedures which have been put in place for Examiners and Boards of Examiners.
2. Examination Assessment
The normal procedures will continue to operate in 2005-06 but these will be supplemented by special procedures which have been introduced to deal with the impact of any industrial action by members of the AUT. These special procedures are detailed in the following sections.
A supplementary set of guidance notes will be issued to Examiners and Boards of Examiners and these should be followed in conjunction with the existing guidance notes.
Where assessed marks for examinations/assignments completed are unavailable to the Boards of Examiners in June, the actual mark, if better, will replace the assigned mark on the student’s transcript once it becomes available, and a revised final result determined. In all cases, students will not suffer any detriment and will benefit where the assessment outcome is an improved mark.
3. Degree Classification
In this section we will use the classification of degrees at Stage 3 to illustrate how the procedures will operate. These arrangements will similarly apply to classification of degrees at Stage 4. Additional detailed guidance will be given in the guide for Examiners and Boards of Examiners referred to in Section 2 above.
Degree classification, up to and including Stage 3, is normally carried out on a weighted average of 6 Level 2 modules and 6 Level 3 modules. Prior to the summer examinations, summative judgements will be available for the 6 Level 2 modules and 3 Level 3 modules already undertaken (although in a few subjects, particularly Engineering, there may be fewer available at this time):
The special procedures for 2005-2006 set out below will apply where examinations have not taken place or where assessment results are not available to Boards of Examiners.
3.1 All available summative judgements for Level 2 and Level 3 modules following the summer examinations, including partial summative judgements and any contributing assessed coursework, will be taken into account in determining the degree classification. Normal classification procedures will be applied where all assessments are available.
3.2 In circumstances, where not all the normal assessments are available, Boards of Examiners will take full account of all known assessments at both Stage 2 and Stage 3. Through this process, they will determine whether the outcome of the degree classification is likely to have been improved by the student’s performance in those modules where full assessments are not available because of industrial action. Boards will adopt a flexible, yet robust, approach, in such cases, which shall not be to the detriment of the student. Similar arrangements will apply to degree classification involving Stage 4 modules.
3.3 Where students have been awarded a degree classification on the basis of fewer than all of the summative assessments for 12 modules, they will be offered the opportunity of sitting an examination in lieu of any examination which they were unable to sit during the summer examination period. Such examinations will be assessed in line with normal procedures.
Students will not suffer any detriment and will benefit from any performance assessment which results in a higher classification to that already awarded.
The option, set out in Section 3.3 above, will only apply to those modules where, as a consequence of the industrial action, a written examination paper was not available for inclusion in the final assessment.
Students, wishing to exercise this option, must apply in writing to the Director of Academic and Student Affairs before 5.00pm on Friday, 7 July 2006. Students, in exercising this option, should clearly indicate the module(s) involved.
The further examinations, available under 3.3 above, will take place in the Autumn. Students will be informed of the venue(s), date(s) and time(s) and the associated timetable as early as possible.
4. Progression from Stage to Stage
4.1 Stage 0 – Stage 1
Stage 1 – Stage 2
The outcome of examinations undertaken in Semester One examinations will be unaffected by arrangements put in place for Semester Two. Students who have failed a Semester One module will be required to re-sit the examination in the Autumn as normal. For Semester Two modules, the following arrangements will apply:
(a) Students will be expected to sit all summer examinations which are available;
(b) Students who have had all Semester Two modules assessed during the summer examinations, and who fail one or more modules, will be required to re-sit the failed module(s) at the Autumn examinations. In such cases, normal progression rules will apply;
(c) In the event of any Semester Two summer examinations, or the marks for the assessments or examinations during Semester Two not being available, the appropriate Board of Examiners will make the final decision with regard to progression to the next stage. In so doing, the Board will take full account of the student’s performance in Semester One based on all completed assessments or partial assessments available.
4.2 Stage 2-3
Stage 3-4
The outcome of examinations undertaken in Semester One will be unaffected by the arrangements for Semester Two examinations. Students who fail one or more modules in Semester One will be expected to undertake re-sits in the Autumn. As Stage 2 and Stage 3 modules contribute to the final degree classification, the following arrangements will apply:
(a) In the event of any Semester Two summer examination, or the marks for the assessments or examinations in Semester Two, not being available, the appropriate Board of Examiners will make the final decision with regard to progression to the next stage. In so doing, the Board will take full account of the student’s performance in Semester One and all other assessments or partial assessments available to them which will contribute to their degree classification.
(b) Students will be informed of the assigned marks agreed by that Board of Examiners for all modules (including those for which an examination, or an assessment outcome, was not available during the summer examination period, because of industrial action). Students will be offered the option of sitting any cancelled examinations in the Autumn. These examinations will be assessed in line with normal procedures and where the outcome is an improved mark, that mark will be assigned to the student and carried forward for inclusion in their final degree classification.
(c) This option will only apply to those modules where examinations have been cancelled because of industrial action.
(d) Similar arrangements will apply to assessments completed by a student where, because of industrial action, the outcomes were not available to the Board of Examiners as normal. When these outcomes become available, the student will suffer no detriment but will benefit where the assessment outcome is an improved mark.
5. Postgraduate Taught Courses
The following general arrangements will apply:
(a) In the event of any Semester Two examination or assessment not being available, the Board of Examiners will determine the outcome of the performance in Semesters One and Two on the basis of Semester One marks and any other available assessments or partial assessments in Semester Two.
(b) Where students have been awarded a degree/diploma on the basis of fewer than all of the summative assessments normally required, they will be offered the opportunity of sitting any missed examination(s) in the Autumn. Students will not suffer any detriment and will benefit from any performance assessment which results in a higher mark to that already awarded.
(c) To exercise this option, students must apply in writing to the Director of Academic and Student Affairs before 5pm on Friday 7 July 2006.
(d) Students who fail one or more of the modules undertaken in the Autumn will be able to do re-sits, where appropriate, in the following January.
I've just seen it on the news. This shouldn't have been allowed to happen. All along people have been told revise for exams as normal, now a few days before exams start they decide to tell us they've canceled some of them. (I think the news said 5% of exams have been canceled.)
Using previous marks isn't satisfactory, what happens to students a few percentage points below a grade boundary who were hoping to pull a grade up with their finals?
what are the elected union officials doing about this?
What can they do?
something other than nothing.
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