2. Changes for 2026-27

Key changes

1.    Conditions for student registration: updates to the section on student registration to more accurately set out what students need to do in order to complete the registration process and maintain their registered status, with reference to the new debt management policy and additional requirements for students with a sponsored visa. ‘Latest arrival date’ has been rephrased to ‘latest permitted registration and attendance date’ – with the actual dates set out in the Academic Calendar policy. 

2.    Academic penalties for academic misconduct: a new simplified approach to determining and applying academic penalties that are available to Academic Misconduct Panels (see section 22) in which:

• proportional, evidence-based academic penalties are applied to the affected work only
• exceptional circumstances cannot be used to mitigate, reduce or overturn a penalty
• the panel becomes the decision-making body on the resultant penalty if it deems that AM has occurred, as an appealable decision
• the panel takes no decision on reassessment, which remains with the exam board 
• academic standards and disciplinary punishment for misconduct is separated
• there are fewer penalties, with clear guidance on when they are used to improve understanding for both staff and students.

3.    Suspension of study in relation to debt management: updates to the section on suspension of study and process to allow a student to pause their studies but retain their status on a programme for a defined period of time where they are temporarily unable to pay tuition fees, as part of a staged process for debt management.

4.    Student transfer: a series of updates, alongside a ‘rewrite’, to the section on student transfer, to

• extend the scope of the existing policy to PGT programmes
• establish a standard deadline for transfer requests, in advance of the deadline for approving transfers
• align permitted transfer deadlines with the latest permitted registration date
• set out clearly the conditions to allow a student with a visa to transfer
• better define the instances where transfers between programmes are allowed outside of the approved transfer periods.

5.    Transferring for academic reasons from accredited to non-accredited programmes in Engineering: the addition of an explicit reference to enable students to transfer from accredited to non-accredited programmes in the School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering as an academic outcome in order for standard rules on compensation to be applied and a student permitted to progress or qualify for an award, given accrediting bodies limit the amount of credit that can be compensated (see 30.25).

6.    Designating pre-requisite taught units for the research unit in PGT programmes: the removal of the ability for a programme to designate a taught unit as a pre-requisite onto the research unit in a PGT programmes, in response to feedback from faculties as part of the evaluation of the new PGT academic regulations that indicated this designation was no longer needed.  

7.    Additional progression thresholds (Integrated Masters Degrees and placements): the simplification and standardisation of existing additional progression thresholds in undergraduate modular programmes by establishing a single higher threshold per programme type:

a.    Remove the higher progression threshold from year 2 to year 3 of 60 for ‘advanced study’ types of integrated masters degrees (without placements); this would mean progression is permitted where students achieve 120cp and achieve a year mark of:

• from year 1 to year 2 = 40 or more
• from year 2 to year 3 = 50 or more
• from year 3 to year 4 = 50 or more

This applies to all relevant cohorts from 2026/27, given a lower progression threshold will only benefit students (see 30.34).

b.    Revise the higher progression threshold in programmes with a study abroad year or industrial placement year of achieving a year mark of 60 to be for year 1 only (currently this is permitted for year 1 or 2), reverting to our standard progression requirements in year 2. 

This will be phased in for new (year 1) cohorts from 2026/27 so not to affect programmes with an existing threshold in year 2 in the next AY (see 30.32). 

8.    Reassessment opportunities and progression requirements onto study abroad year: the introduction of a common approach to considering whether a student is permitted to commence their study abroad year at the summer exam board where they have not yet met the academic requirements to progress, that is:

• students in year 2 of a study abroad programme are allowed the opportunity to undertake reassessment (including supplementary assessment) to meet the academic requirements to undertake the study abroad year (see 13.6), and
• in cases where a studying at the partner institution starts early, students may be allowed to undertake the study abroad year pending confirmation of their progression (i.e. reassessment) outcome on a risk basis depending on the student’s academic performance and volume and type of credit that is outstanding (13.7).

The change will be applied to all relevant cohorts from 2026/27, given this will only benefit students in programmes that currently do not allow them to do the study abroad year if they have reassessment.

9.    Resubmission of original work for reassessment: an explicit allowance for reassessment (and supplementary assessment) by revision and resubmission of the original assessment instead of requiring a new piece of work (see 30.8, 30.10, 32.8 and 32.15) and , where appropriate, supported by guidance to support this change, as an annex to the Code.

10.    Reassessment for non-dissertation assessment in PGT research units: addition of new text to permit reassessment of non-dissertation components in research units within PGT degree programmes (see 32.19). Currently the section on reassessment in a research unit only reflects what happens on resubmitting the dissertation.

11.    Student attendance and engagement: a number of updates, as part of the re-write of this section, to:

• refine what we expect the student engagement processes to do
• differentiate between non-engagement and unsatisfactory (low) engagement and outcomes related to each
• remove reference to failing summative assessment and not obtaining credit points as an indicator of unsatisfactory attendance and engagement
• remove the outcome of withdrawing a student from a unit due to unsatisfactory attendance and engagement
• strengthen the engagement requirements of students with a visa to assure compliance with UKVI requirements, particularly for students on sub-degree programmes.

12.    Conditions for allowing students to sit exams overseas: clarification on the conditions for permitting students to take examinations in a venue other than one arranged by the University of Bristol– that is only allowing where students have already been permitted to undertake a supplementary year on an assessment-only basis, as a reasonable adjustment for a disability or other exceptional emergency situation (see 17.9). Under this change, the allowance extends to any in-term assessments taken under exam conditions.

13.    Release of marks and feedback for academic misconduct cases: a common position on releasing marks and feedback where academic misconduct in an assessment is suspected: if the intellectual mark of an assessment is in doubt due to suspected academic misconduct, then the provisional mark and any individual feedback is held back until the case is concluded, with an exception for feedback that is an essential and integrated part of the next assessment in the unit (see 24.5). Any general / cohort feedback is still shared.

Minor changes / clarifications

1.    Additional time in timed assessments due to AEAs: an explicit clarification to allow an additional day in timed assessments for any type of alternative examination arrangement so to ensure consistency in application across the University (see 17.10).

2.    Allowing a unit to be replaced with another for reassessment in a Supplementary Year: a clarification on the circumstances in which a unit may be replaced by another unit in a supplementary year, ensuring alignment between sections on the Taught Code. The change clarifies that an exam board may replace an optional or open unit with another in a supplementary year, including where it has been affected by ECs or for any optional or open unit that has yet to be passed rather than ‘failed’ (see 12.19 and 30.15).

3.    Approval of additional supplementary years and longer suspensions and extensions: a change in the approval of additional supplementary years and suspensions or extensions of over 12 months from university to faculty (see 11.17, 33.16 and 34.5 and 11). The delegation of these actions to faculty had already been made for 2025/26, so this is a formalisation of practice within regulation.

4.    Year pass mark for years of study with units of different levels: a clarification that the Year pass mark for integrated masters degrees that have a mix of levels (e.g. 6 and 7 units in UG years 3 and 4 or PGT), that the year pass mark is aligned with the level of the year of study regardless of units within it (so 50 for the final year of an integrated Masters degree) (see 28.2). This will be adopted in regulation as an interim arrangement on the basis that it is simple to operate regardless of programme structure and optional units that an individual student might select, whilst the few remaining UG programmes with split level 6/7 credit across years are taught out.

5.    External examiner review of assessment materials: a minor update to clarify that all summative assessment tasks should be available to an external examiner as part of their review of assessment design. The requirement on scrutinising only those assessments that are non-minor and lead to a progress or student outcome is unchanged (see 16.10).

6.    Retention of student work: the Taught Code will point to the University’s retention schedule when referencing the retention of student work, instead of stating its own policy (see 25.1). The retention period for assessed student work is nine years after the date of assessment.

7.    Variations to regulation to account for programmes being delivered at MEC: a number of variations are applied, mainly relating to where our regulations makes specific reference to: responsibilities for taking action, dates or timeframes for taking action, or legislation / requirements that are specific to the UK.

Changes to the Annexes

• Annex 2: new regulations for newly approved programmes in:
• Executive education Master of Science (MSc) degrees in Leadership and Global Management 
• Certificate of Higher Education in Dental Nursing (CertHE)
• Bachelor in Dental Hygiene (BDH) – as a non-modular programme using the same regulations as those that are in place for its sister programme, the Bachelor of Dental Therapy (BDT).
• IFP in Medicine – using the same set of regulations as for the rest of the IFPs.
• An addition a change in the specific regulations that govern the set of IFPs so that an exam board can no longer award 120 credit points in the programme on the basis of a pass overall. 
• Regulations to govern the pilot phase of a micro-qualification delivered at the Hartcliffe/Withywood micro-campus in 2026 were approved in-year.
• A new annex (3) to the Taught Code that sets out the general framework and principles for applying regulation in programmes delivered at the Mumbai Enterprise Campus.
• A new annex (6) on guidance on forms of reassessment [to follow].
• The previous student transfer policy, which was previously an annex, has been integrated into the main body of the Taught Code.
• Addition of the existing University Academic Calendar policy as an annex (4).

Changes to the Procedure documents

• Updated Academic Misconduct Procedure – to reflect simplified penalties (see item 2)
• Update Conduct of assessment procedure– to reflect a change in permitting exams to be taken elsewhere (see item 12)
• New procedure on student attendance and engagement [to follow].

Rewrite of the Taught Code

Sections 3-14 have been subject to a re-write process, with the revised version presented in this version of the Taught Code. Key changes are:

• Previous section on ‘student choice’ has been removed with the key point being moved into section 3 (see 3.12)
• Change of title for sections 3, 4 and 13.