Teaching and Assessment

Updated 1st May 2020

The University should recognise its unique student demographics and variety of vocational courses mean there is not one simple solution to the problem we are currently faced with. Therefore, delivery of teaching in a virtual manner, for a vast part of UCB curriculums is not in the best interests of UCB students.

5. All students should have the right to defer without penalty or impact on their studies. UPDATED

6. All students should be guaranteed the grade they have achieved so far and should not get a lower grade for this semester. UPDATED

7. Students should be able to finish their course if they are able to and UCB should prioritise these students. DONE

8. Students should be provided with high quality support and guidance to be able to make these decisions effectively.

What are we doing about it?

1st May 2020

We're listening to you and hearing about your experiences. We've organised a Course Rep meeting for each school at UCB and will be feeding back your experiences and ideas to the University.

We're also supporting the National Union of Students' #StudentSafetyNet Campaign which asks for students to have the opportunity to re-do their year, have their student loan written off and reimbursed and for graduating students to have access to a government funded grant to support skills development. For more information on the campaign, it's asks and how to get involved, please see our webpage here.

7th April 2020

We know this is a huge issue for so many of you. We've had nearly 2000 visits to the website this week, and nearly all student communications with us have been about issues regarding online teaching - whether its technology issues all the way to your inability to take part to the best of your abilities due to this overwhelming crisis.

We met with the Vice Chancellor this week to discuss teaching provision and share your perspectives. We have been told that you will receive communication very soon from the University regarding all of these issues. We will let you know any outcomes as soon as we find out as well!

What can I do?

Support the National Union of Students' Student Safety Net Campaign. There are 4 steps you can take to support.

Keep letting us know any issues you're having regarding teaching and assessment

Submit any different ideas and look at other students' ideas to vote up, down or comment on, to make sure we've got the greatest number of student voices involved.

What have we won to date?

1st May 2020

The Guild has been informed that students wishing to defer their studies, will be able to. However, this will still incur a penalty, we are working with the National Union of Students to lobby the government to provide students with the opportunity to defer without penalty.

The University has released today, information on grading and assessment. Their grading policy means that no student should be at a detriment as a result of COVID-19 and will be able to progress into their next level or study, or graduate with their highest possible marks. The University have three ways of calculating your grade and will assess these and select the one that provides students with the highest grade. If you'd like more information on this, or what it means for you, please contact your year manager or module leader.

7th April 2020

The University have announced that teaching will continue online until the end of this academic year. This means, students will have the opportunity to finish their course.

We've successfully lobbied the National Union of Students (NUS) to call for all non essential exams to be cancelled. You may have seen this reported in the national news.