30. Confirming student outcomes (exam boards)

School exam boards 

Pre-exam board assurance 

30.1. Preparatory assurance activities are undertaken to ensure that the marks presented to the school exam board are valid. This includes: 

• remedying any issues in the performance of assessment, or 
• implementing relevant recommendations from the Exceptional Circumstances Committee regarding individual students to mitigate the impact of exceptional circumstances.  

30.2. Any significant incidents that require cohort-level intervention should be raised and discussed with the Faculty Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor or delegate prior to the School exam board. 

30.3. The views of the relevant external examiner/s with regard to the conduct of the assessment, marking and moderation processes are sought ready for consideration by the school exam board. 

Convening a board 

30.4. An exam board is convened in each school to consider the programme-level academic outcome for students on the undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes that it owns, and the unit-level academic outcome for any students who are studying credit-bearing units only, owned by the school (e.g. incoming study abroad students).   

30.5. The school exam board is convened at set points during the academic year where decisions are due to be made about assessment, progression or award outcomes. It may also convene outside of these set points for considering specific individual cases or to approve marks where that is required for a specific purpose. 

30.6. Separate exam boards may be convened due to volume of cases or where there are substantive differences in regulations being applied, for example between undergraduate and taught postgraduate or modular and non-modular programmes.  

Membership and quoracy 

30.7. The membership of the school exam board is determined at the start of each academic year by the Head of School (or equivalent role) and approved by the relevant Faculty Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor or delegate based on the following requirements:  

1. the school exam board requires at least three members of staff to operate, including the nominated Chair. It should consist of no more members than is required for it to conduct its business.
2. the school exam board’s membership is composed of: 

1. • the School Education Director, or other nominee (as Chair),
   • role-holders in the school who are responsible for and have oversight of a programme/s, and/or who are responsible for oversight of student academic support, and
   • a professional services representative from the school to provide advice on the application of regulations and procedure for confirming student outcomes. 

30.8. The Faculty Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor or delegate may nominate a member/s of staff to attend the school exam board to aid in its deliberations such as advising on the application of regulations and where necessary providing independent oversight of the outcomes.   

30.9. The external examiner/s for the programme/s are not required to attend the school exam board. The views of the external examiner/s on the operation and standards of the assessment, marking and moderation processes are made available to the board. 

Responsibilities 

30.10. The school exam board is responsible for: 

1. assuring that the assessment, marking and moderation processes have been conducted appropriately and therefore the assessment and unit marks presented to it can be approved. 
2. considering programme-level outcomes for each student presented to it by: 
   1. considering the impact classification from the relevant Exceptional Circumstances Committees, and determining action, if any, to mitigate the impact of those circumstances on an individual student’s performance in assessment. 
   2. considering and agreeing the application of any recommended penalties in cases of academic misconduct. 
   3. based on their unit marks and (i-ii) above either: 
      • approve the student’s academic outcome (i.e. progression or award and, where applicable, classification); or, 
      • make a recommendation to a complex outcomes exam board for final approval where it is judged that there is sufficient complexity in determining the academic outcome.  
3. approving unit-level outcomes for students who are studying credit-bearing units only (e.g. incoming study abroad students), as above in (b). 

30.11. The school exam board may agree that the Chair has authority to enact a specific and defined action between meetings of the board. 

30.12. The Faculty Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education and Students) or delegate, and the Head of Faculty Education and Student Success or delegate, are responsible for ensuring that the school exam boards in their faculty convene and operate in line with these regulations and supporting Procedure.   

Output 

30.13. A written record of the meeting is taken. This provides the academic outcome of each student presented to it or where the case is subject to ratification by a quality check or has been referred for further consideration to a separate complex outcomes exam board. 

Quality assurance of decision making 

30.14. Appropriate mechanisms are applied at various points to assure the decision making of the school exam board in confirming student outcomes. This includes a specific review of identified decisions of the school exam board after its meeting in relation to the data that was available to it and the application of regulations in a specific case or cases. Any anomalies that are identified are flagged to the Chair of the school exam board for re-consideration. 

Complex outcomes exam board 

Convening a board 

30.15. A complex outcomes exam board is convened in each faculty to approve the academic outcome of students referred to it from its undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes.  

30.16. The complex outcomes exam board is convened at set points during the academic year where assessment, progression or award decisions are referred to it. It may also convene outside of these set points for considering specific individual cases where that is required for a specific purpose. 

30.17. A faculty may choose to convene separate boards where there are substantive differences in regulations being applied. 

Membership and Quoracy 

30.18. The membership of the complex outcomes exam board is determined and approved at the start of each academic year by the Faculty Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education and Students) or delegate, based on the following requirements: 

30.19. The complex outcomes exam board requires at least three members of staff to operate, including the nominated Chair. It should consist of no more members than is required for it to conduct its business. 

30.20. The board’s membership is composed of: 

• the Faculty Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor or delegate (as Chair)
• the Chairs of the school exam boards (or nominee, on behalf of the Chair)
• a professional services representative from the faculty to provide advice on the application of regulations and process. 

Responsibilities 

30.21. For each student presented to it, the complex outcomes exam board is responsible for approving programme-level academic outcomes on the basis of the recommendation made by the school exam board. 

30.22. The board may agree that the Chair has authority to enact a specific and defined action between meetings of the board. 

Output 

30.23. A written record of the meeting is taken. This provides the academic outcome of each student referred to it. 

Confidentiality and anonymity at school and complex outcomes exam boards 

30.24. Student cases are considered anonymously.  

30.25. Exceptionally, information about a student’s exceptional circumstances may be introduced in an exam board by the Chair where:

• the student will benefit from disclosure of the nature of the exceptional circumstance; and,
• it is essential for a fair decision to be arrived at. 

In these cases, the anonymity of the student is maintained. 

30.26. Discussions held at the exam board are confidential. Students may request to see the minute relating to the consideration of their individual case.