The new ‘Comprehensive Measures’ policy has backing from the NDP campaign
By: Anttoni Numminen
A new version of the previously defeated No Detriment Policy (NDP) is set to return to a Senate vote on 17 March.
Before that, on 3 March, it will be considered by the Senate in the context of an “academic review”.
The ‘Protection from Disadvantage: Comprehensive Measures for Fair and Consistent Assessment in the Context of Covid-19’ policy is different to the original NDP in that it applies to the entire 2020/21 academic year which means students can retroactively apply for mitigating circumstances for last semester,
Image courtesy of Parel Wilmering for the NDP
...[continued] although AUSA and the University advise doing so as soon as possible. It will also change the ‘borderlines’ between degree classifications, apply to the Qatar as well as other campuses and it will remove the fees previously required for resit examinations.
In terms of the degree classification borderline’, the new policy proposes extended borderlines of “0.50 GPA to 0.99 GPA for all students in level 3 and above in the academic year 2020/21”.
In practice this means that students who end up with .5-.99 will automatically be upgraded to the higher classification and students who get 0.01-0.49 will go through a review to determine if they will be upgraded or stay with the lower degree classification.
The policy also proposes “adjusted assessment at all levels, enabling students to be appropriately assessed in the context of blended and online learning” as well as “relaxation of the amount of assessment that currently requires to be completed to allow the examiners to award an overall course mark in the context of mitigating circumstances from 75% and achievement of all learning outcomes to 70% and achievement of all learning outcomes where MC or GC has been awarded for the missing component of assessment.”
Student Council expressed strong support for the policy, with 47 out of 53 councillors present ‘approving’ of the document.
Speaking to The Gaudie, the chair of the Students for a No Detriment Policy campaign, Natalie Campbell, said: “We are very pleased with Student Council's vote to support a comprehensive No Detriment Policy. This highlights students' critical need for such a policy and we hope that the University is listening.”
Non-members of the Senate who wish to attend the upcoming meeting are ‘asked to notify academicservices@abdn.ac.uk by 11am Wednesday 3 March’. The agenda and papers can be found on the University’s website at https://www.abdn.ac.uk/staffnet/governance/senate/.
