Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes 2024/25

Each section of the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes can be accessed via the navigation panel on the left-hand side.

Download a copy of the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes for 2024/25:

• 2024/25 Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes (PDF, 1,028kB)
• 2024/25 Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes (Office document, 764kB)

Download a copy of the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes for 2023/24:

• 2023/24 Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes (PDF, 1,034kB)
• 2023/24 Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes (Office document, 366kB)

Previous versions of the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes are available here.

Temporary amendments for 2022/23 are also in place to account for the impact of the industrial action upon student academic outcomes at the summer exam boards

INTRODUCTION

1.        Purpose and application of these regulations    

1.1.    These Regulations and Code of Practice (‘the Code’) summarise the University’s expectations for the conduct of assessment, progression and the award of a qualification in undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes, including those taught at the equivalent of level 3 in the national Qualifications and Credit Framework.

1.2.    The expectations of the Code are developed with a commitment to the UK Quality Code for Higher Education, and the awards conferred are benchmarked against the Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies.  Individual disciplines will also refer to relevant subject benchmark statements.

1.3.    The relevant sections of this Codemay apply to the assessment, progression and completion of any taught units or components in research degree programmes. For further information please see the regulations for specific degrees in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes.

1.4.   The Code applies to all taught students, including those who study on a part time basis. For this purpose, where reference is made to ‘years of study’ the policy must be applied on a pro rata basis and equivalent to the volume of credit that a full-time student would normally undertake in an academic year

1.5.    For the purpose of this Code a ‘regulation’ is defined as: ‘a rule set by the University which must be followed’; and a ‘policy’ as a: ‘statement established by common consensus that will be followed, unless there is good and validated reason otherwise.’

1.6.    Regulations within the Code may not be varied. They are indicated by boxed text. The rest of the Code should also be followed.  Any requests to depart from the Code must be approved by the relevant Faculty Education Director and the Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor Education (Quality and Standards). If deemed appropriate, the relevant university or faculty committee may be consulted by the Faculty Education Director before the departure from regulation is approved. University and faculty committees will take into account consistency of practice university-wide and the spirit of the Code in its decision-making.

Application of new or revised regulations

1.7.    Students will be subject to the regulations that are in place for the current academic year on registering for that year of study, subject to the provisions set out in 1.9. For clarity, this includes students undertaking assessment in the reassessment period and submitting a dissertation in a taught postgraduate degree programme prior to the finalist exam board. Students who are re-taking units as part of a supplementary year in the next academic year will be subject to the regulations in place for that academic year.

1.8.    Students studying on a part-time basis are subject to the version of the Taught Code that is in place on registering at the start of the academic year, unless a change is being phased in. Where this is the case, schools should ensure that students are not disadvantaged by the phasing in of regulation; applying the more favourable (to the student) regulation in cases where a student first registers on a programme under one regulation, which is then superseded by a revised version of the regulation.

1.9.    When the University proposes significant changes to the formal University regulation and policies that govern taught programmes:

• It will consult with the sabbatical officers of the Students’ Union and determine whether its implementation would negatively affect existing cohorts of students.
• Where no negative effects are identified, the change may be applied universally to all student cohorts, normally from the beginning of an academic year;
• Otherwise, a change may only be introduced for new first-year cohort registrations and phased in (please see 1.12 for those regulations or policies that are currently being phased in).

1.10. Where a change is being phased in (as above):

• Newly registered students who do not enter into the first year of a programme will be subject to the regulations that are in place for the student cohort that they are joining.
• Those students who initially registered under one set of regulations and who subsequently join a different cohort that is governed by a different set of regulations (e.g. through a suspension of studies, a requirement to repeat a year or undertake a supplementary year) will become subject to the new regulations on registration into the new cohort.

1.11. Should there be uncertainty about which set of regulations cover a particular student, a decision should be made that reflects the best interests of the student.

1.12. The following regulations and policies within this version of the Taught Code are currently being phased in:

• Due to professional accreditation requirements, the application of the compensation rule has been amended for students newly registered on programmes owned by the Faculty of Engineering (as listed in the Programme Catalogue) from 2022/23 onwards, as below. The existing regulations on compensation apply to students newly registered prior to 2022/23.
  • Compensation to permit progression on an undergraduate programme from one year of study to the next is not available; students must achieve at least 120 credit points to progress to the next year of study (30.13).
  • The ability of the exam board to award 120 credit points for the final year of undergraduate study on the basis of a pass overall in assessments undertaken in the final year (30.19) is not available. The relevant Board of Examiners, however, will award credit to an undergraduate student to permit the award of a qualification, despite failure to achieve a pass mark associated with taught unit(s) of up to 20 credit points, provided conditions set out in 30.20 are satisfied.
• The progression requirements onto a placement year (study abroad or industrial placement) within an undergraduate programme are changed for new entrants to undergraduate programmes from 2023/24 (30.30-33).
• Due to a change in the methodology for calculating degree classification (using the rounded year mark to calculate the final programme mark, rather than the actual year mark) a check will be undertaken at the point of classification to guide the relevant exam board in ensuring that the change does not disadvantage the academic outcome of any student, who first registered on their intended programme of study prior to the 2022/23 academic year, with the higher classification being awarded, where applicable. This check will be undertaken until the eligible student cohorts have completed their intended programme of study (32.15)
• New academic regulations governing taught postgraduate programmes are introduced for 2024/25. For students who first registered on their programme before 2024/25, classification will be calculated using the new methodology and the methodology set out in the 2023/24 regulations, with the student receiving the higher classification, if any (39.6).