What’s Changed in the Academic Regulations?

A Guide to Recent Regulatory Changes

A number of amendments have been made to Anglia Ruskin's Academic Regulations for introduction from the 2011/12 academic year. This webpage has been specifically designed to help you understand the changes, why we have made the changes and how they impact on you. Here you can find:

• Information for Students
• Information for Staff
• Short films, explaining the changes (not currently available)
• Download your own copy of the Assessment Regulations
• Download your own copy of the full Academic Regulations (4th Edition), July 2011
• More help and guidance

Information for Students

Information for Staff

So, why have the main changes been made?

Upper Word Limits for Major Projects:

Comments from external examiners and external panel members on (re)approval and periodic review panels and feedback from senior Anglia Ruskin staff who act as external examiners at other institutions suggested that Anglia Ruskin’s word limits were significantly higher than comparable provision in other institutions. The Academic Regulations Subcommittee investigated the matter on behalf of the Senate, including finding out what practice was in place at other universities via feedback from the Academic Registrars' Council. Pedagogically, it was agreed that the need to promote quality and conciseness of work as being of utmost importance.

The End of the 'NX' Rule

In June 2010, the Senate approved a revision to the Academic Regulations governing the re-assessment of modules as a direct consequence of revised HEFCE funding methodology and the Council’s definition of “non-completion” of a module. Subsequently, HEFCE has revised its regulations which have changed the definition of non-completion and allow a longer period for completion of assessment in a module at either the initial or re-assessment stage.

The Academic Regulations Subcommittee undertook a review of the impact of the revised regulation which compared assessment conducted as a first attempt in the 2010/11 academic year with equivalent data from the 2009/10 academic year. Overall the data showed that there had been only a small change in student behaviour with slightly more first attempts of modules being submitted at the appropriate time (in percentage terms).

In view of this evidence, combined with the subsequent change in HEFCE regulations, the Senate agreed to re-instate the previous approach to module assessment.

Penalising Work Which Exceeds the Word Limit

The previous regulation which automatically deducted 10% of marks if work exceeded the stated word limit was largely perceived as unfair as no formal count of words was made and the application of the regulation was based on the word count total that the student entered on the assignment submission sheet, irrespective of whether that word count was accurate. Therefore, the Senate has approved a new approach which can be applied more fairly and consistently, and which is pedagogically sound. It requires that, where students have exceeded the word limit, this is reflected in the academic judgement of the piece of work (ie: via the marks allocated) with a lower mark being awarded to reflect that a piece of work is neither concise nor has addressed the assignment brief sufficiently well within the set word limit.

The Academic Office, in conjunction with Anglia Learning & Teaching, will provide academic staff with further guidance on the implementation of this regulation in late September/early October 2011.

Other Regulatory Amendments

A number of other minor regulatory changes were also approved by the Senate. If you would like to consult the paper that the Senate considered and approved at its meeting in June 2011 when all the amendments were confirmed, please visit the Senate Committee pages and access agenda item SEN/11/49.

Short Films Explaining the Changes

We are currently in the process of producing some short films to help explain the changes to you and they will appear here shortly.

 

Your Own Copy of the Assessment Regulations

 

Returning students can collect their own copy of all the regulations which govern the assessment process. All new students will receive a copy as part of their welcome pack. • For students at the main Anglia Ruskin campuses in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Fulbourn and Peterborough, you can collect your own copy from your Faculty or Departmental Office or the i-Centres • For students at all partner institutions both in the UK and overseas, multiple copies have been provided and you can collect one from your local office

 

The Full Academic Regulations – Electronic Version

 

You can download a copy of the full set of Academic Regulations (which includes the Assessment Regulations) from our Academic Regulations Webpage.

 

Further Help and Advice

If you are still unsure about how these changes might actually affect you in practice then please speak to your Faculty Student Adviser or the Students’ Union.

 

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