Assessment decisions

Who makes final decisions about my academic performance?

A Board of Examiners is responsible for making final decisions about your results for courses, your progression status, and your eligibility for an award (for example an Honours degree) at the end of your studies.

The Board of Examiners is made up of academic members of staff involved in the delivery of courses within your subject area (or related areas), and one or more External Examiners. External Examiners are members of academic staff from the same (or a relevant) subject area in other institutions who take part in our Boards of Examiners to make sure that they make fair and consistent decisions on a comparable basis with those at other universities, and that they follow our academic regulations in doing so.

The University’s assessment regulations set out how Boards of Examiners are expected

to operate and make decisions.

The University's Assessment Regulations

How do they decide?

When you submit work for assessment, it is marked and then moderated or checked to make sure that the marking for that assessment is consistent for all students. Boards of Examiners then consider the marks for your assessments, along with any other evidence relevant to your performance (for example, Exceptional Circumstances recommendations), and agree final results for your courses which reflect your performance. If you are taking courses in more than one subject area, different Boards of Examiners may be responsible for making decisions about your different course results. The Board of Examiners responsible for your degree programme decides whether or not you are in a position to progress at the end of each stage of your programme (usually at the end of each year), or graduate with an award, based on your course results and any other relevant information.

What if I think the decision is unfair?

If a Board of Examiners makes a decision which you feel is unfair, you have the right to submit an academic appeal, provided you meet one of the grounds for appeal.

More information about academic appeals