Academic Services
Assessment
The Assessment Unit is responsible for the following activities:
• At the beginning of each year the Assessment Unit checks the examination venues to ensure the capacities of each venue, updates the system, and coordinates with the exam team y to agree on the exam allocation structure.
• Schedule the final unseen exams following the agreed protocol:
o Beginning of academic week 4: the assessment team requests proposed schedules from exam officers to be sent at the beginning of week six.
o Beginning of academic week 5: Exam officers consult student representatives for a proposed schedule within this week.
o Beginning of academic week 7: AS to upload proposed schedules on the SRS and send the first draft to the faculty exam officers.
o Beginning of academic week 8: Exam officers are to send any comments to AS.
o Beginning of academic week 9: AS is to work on the received comments and send a second draft to exam officers.
o Beginning of academic week 10: Exam officers to either confirm or send final comments to AS.
o Beginning of academic week 11: AS to work on the final comments.
o End of academic week 11: Exam officers are to send their confirmations on the schedule to AS. Any request to make changes to the schedule will be rejected.
o End of academic week 12 (last day of teaching): AS to publish the exams schedule on the SRS.
• Before each semester’s exams the assessment unit provides the building supervisor with the numbering labels to prepare the exam venues.
• The assessment unit is to prepare the exam stationery (answer booklets & invigilation packs) and send it to Exam Officers the day prior to each exam.
• The assessment unit provides a guideline for the module leaders on how to use the SRS to insert the student’s marks.
• Support Academic Staff to complete the marking process and follow up with the faculty SARs on the missing marks during the mark entry process to ensure that all marks are entered.
• Manage the mark change process by reviewing the validity of the form and supporting evidence received from the faculty and applying the change to the student record system.
Assessment’s structure:
Assessment is the formal process used to evaluate student learning and determine whether the intended learning outcomes have been achieved. There are two main types of assessment:
Summative Assessment, which provides a mark that contributes to the overall grade for a module; and
Formative Assessment, which offers a mark and/or qualitative feedback to support future learning, but does not contribute to the final module grade.
Both forms of assessment play a valuable role in the learning process. All marks are awarded in accordance with the University’s Marking and Assessment Criteria, as outlined in Annex 5.
A variety of assessment techniques exist, and they can be divided into five categories:
- Class Test: A written assessment with a fixed time limit, conducted in accordance with the Examination and Assessment Regulations, but not administered by Academic Services. It is organised by the relevant Programme Director and takes place outside the official examination period.
- Coursework: Examples of coursework include assignments, research papers, presentations, class tests, and practical or laboratory-based examinations organised by the relevant department.
- Oral Examination: A formal assessment conducted through oral communication and/or the demonstration, presentation, or defence of a dissertation or project. This may be used independently or in combination with other forms of assessment.
- Practical Examination: A formal assessment with a fixed time limit that requires the student to utilise laboratory, workshop, computing, or other specialised facilities provided by the University.
- Written Examination: An unseen examination is one in which the student has had no prior access to, or knowledge of, the content of the examination paper before the assessment takes place.
