Examination Committees and external examiners

Examination Committee

An Examination Committee will be appointed for the programme each year on behalf of the Academic Board by the Quality and Standards Committee of OBU and by the Academic Board of MSUPA. Its composition shall be follows:

(i) Dean of the Faculty of Publishing and Advertising, responsible for the programme or nominee.

(ii) Internal Examiners. These shall normally be all module leaders on the programme, and must be specified by name at the start of each academic year. The module leaders, or the Programme Manager or nominee, are responsible for representing the views of the teaching and assessment teams.

(iii) OBU programme liaison manager

(iv) External Examiner(s), who shall be appointed by the Quality and Standards Committee on behalf of the OBU Academic Board in accordance with the procedures laid down for the time being.

(v) External Examiner(s), who shall be appointed by the RF Ministry of Education and Culture (chair).

The Committee may be responsible for more than one programme of study

Duties and powers of the Examination Committee

The Examination Committee is responsible for maintaining the academic standard of the postgraduate award, and, in particular, for the following. (i) Publishing a calendar of examinations, deadlines and other appropriate matters at the beginning of each academic year. (ii) Setting and marking such coursework and invigilated examinations as may contribute to the entitlement to proceed from stage to stage or to qualifying for the awards and the conduct of viva examinations. (iii) Compiling results and communicating them to the Academic Boards of both Universities, which shall have no power to alter the results save as provided for in the Regulations for the Review of and Appeals against a Decision of an Examination Committee.

Proceedings of the Examination Committee

The Examination Committee shall establish its own standing orders including provision for the taking of decisions between regular meetings and reporting them to the next regular meeting and, as required by the Academic Boards of both Universities under the respective Universities’ Academic Regulations, make suitable arrangements for recording its decisions and the factors taken into account in reaching them. These records shall normally remain confidential.

Duties and powers of the External Examiner(s)

The duties and powers of the External Examiner(s) shall be in accordance with their rights and responsibilities as laid down for the time being by the Academic Regulations of the respective University. In addition they shall have specific functions in relation to the programme.

The assessment of students

Pass mark

The pass mark for each module and for the whole award shall be 50%.

Distinction

A distinction shall be equivalent to 70%or over. An Examination Committee may recommend an award with distinction if the following condition is met: normallythe student must have achieved an average of 70% or more (i.e. a distinction) over at least two thirds of the programme, and for a Masters degree this must include a distinction in the dissertation or project.

Referral/Reassessment

Students who fail in their first attempt to satisfy the Examination Committee in the assessment for an award or individual modules may be reassessed once onlyin any or all modules, at the discretion of the Examination Committee. Students who are awarded less than 25% for a module shall normally not be allowed a reassessment for that module without retaking the module.

The Examination Committee may, at its discretion, require a student to retake a module before reassessment takes place.

If successful in a reassessment, the student shall be awarded the pass mark of 50%.

Examination Committees shall have the power to refer a dissertation for resubmission within a specified time that shall not exceed one calendar year.

Failure

A student who is not permitted by the Examination Committee to retake a module or who otherwise reaches a position from which it is not possible to satisfy the conditions for an award under these regulations shall be so informed and shall have to leave the programme. Such a student shall receive a transcript showing all the elements passed or for which credit has been accorded and shall be awarded any intermediate qualification the conditions for the award of which have, in the judgement of the Examination Committee, already been fulfilled.

Valid reasons for poor performance: illness or other exceptional circumstances

If it is established to the satisfaction of the Examination Committee that a student's absence, failure to submit work or poor performance in all or part of an assessment was due to illness, or other cause found valid on production of acceptable evidence, the Board shall act under (i) to (iii) below. (i) The student concerned has the right to be reassessed as if for the first time in any or all of the elements of assessment, as specified by the Examination Committee. If an assessment affected by illness was itself a second attempt, the student shall be permitted to be reassessed as if for the second time. (ii) Where the Examination Committee is satisfied that there is sufficient evidence of the student's achievement in a programme module, the student may be awarded a grade for that module without further assessment. (iii) Where a student would have been eligible for an award, and the Examination Committee is satisfied that there is sufficient evidence of the student's achievement, or this evidence is subsequently obtained, the student may be recommended for the award for which he or she is a candidate, with or without distinction as appropriate. In order to reach a decision, an Examination Committee may assess the candidate by whatever means it considers appropriate.

Before an award under (ii) above is made, the student must have signified that he or she is willing to accept the decision of the Examination Committee and understands that this implies waiving the right to be reassessed under (i) above.

Disability

If a student is unable, through disability, to be assessed by the normal methods, examiners may vary the methods as appropriate, bearing in mind the objectives of the programme and the need to assess the student on equal terms with other students.